Dr. Magsi seeks Support of Sindh's Urdu-Speaking People

By Mohammad Hussain Khan

STPP Chairman Dr Qadir Magsi, Ayaz Latif Palijo, Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, Nazeer Memon and Dr Rajab Ali Memon sit on the stage during a public meeting to mark the foundation day of the party. The meeting passed several resolutions for Sindh’s rights. - PPI photo

HYDERABAD: Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party’s chairman Dr Qadir Magsi has urged Urdu-speaking people to consider Sindh as their homeland and shed the fear of Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

Addressing a public meeting held here on Sunday to mark the foundation day of the party, Dr Magsi made almost half of his speech in Urdu although he usually delivers speeches in Sindhi like other nationalist leaders.

“I invite my elders [Urdu-speaking] and tell them that it’s your homeland. Consider me and my colleagues as your brothers. Shed your fear and rebuild Sindh and translate your dreams of prosperity into reality for a peaceful future. But for that to happen you will have to say no to terrorism,” he said.

He said a new Sindh would emerge if people supported newly-formed Sindh Nationalists Progressive Alliance in elections.

Dr Magsi criticised Sindh ministers Dr Zulfikar Mirza and Ayaz Soomro and said that despite their opposition Sindhi people would vote for SNPA in elections.

He also criticised President Asif Ali Zardari and said that he should remember the promise made by the PPP to restore old status of Hyderabad and Karachi districts.

He said that the PPP government had failed to implement the 1991 Water Accord and it had announced a plan for 32 new dams over the Indus.

He opposed settlement of outsiders in the province and said that Sindhis would not accept anything less than complete autonomy. “We have decided to refuse to accept starvation and hunger,” he said.

Dr Magsi said that the 1971 experience showed that Pakistan could not be kept by force. The state needed to be reconstituted in the spirit of the 1940 Resolution, he said.

Sindh United Party’s chief Jalal Mehmood Shah rejected proposals prepared by the parliamentary committee on constitutional reforms and the NFC award, which had prepared the formula for resource distribution on the basis of 1998 census. He criticised the committee for opposing giving GST collection to provinces and said that under this head Rs4.5 billion would be transferred to the centre. “We demand economic and political autonomy,” he said.

Awami Tehrik’s Ayaz Latif Palijo, Shah Mohammad Shah of Save Sindh Movement, Nazeer Memon, Zulfikar Halepoto and Dr Rajab Memon also spoke at the gathering.

The meeting adopted several resolutions, demanding sovereignty and autonomy in accordance with the 1940 Resolution, reconstitution of the state as People’s Republic of Pakistan on the basis of modern, democratic and secular principles, a new constituent assembly with equal representation of all nations to frame a new constitution.

Other resolutions demanded that people who had settled in Sindh after 1954 should be treated as aliens and deprived of voting rights and all immigrants be expelled, languages of five nations should be given the status of national languages, Sindh be given ownership right over coal, oil and gas and other natural resources, Sindh’s right as lower riparian should be accepted as per the 1991 Water Accord and all link canals should be closed, construction of dams on Indus be stopped, a paramilitary force consisting of Sindhi youths be raised, hike in prices be reversed and unemployment ended, murderers of Benazir Bhutto including Pervez Musharraf be tried in court, army operation in Balochistan be halted and missing persons be recovered, gubernatorial powers over boards of secondary education be withdrawn and given to education department, community police in Karachi be abolished and Sindhi students be given admission to educational institutions in Karachi.

Source:DAWN, Monday, 22 Mar, 2010

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