No holds barred: Nationalists attack PPP, offer their own leadership

Magsi raked up the bloodshed in the 1980s which gave birth to their movement.

HYDERABAD:

Leaders of nationalist parties showed no mercy and came out loud and harsh on the Pakistan Peoples Party government for their ‘submissiveness’ to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

At the 21st celebration of Yom-e-Madre Watan (motherland day) on Wednesday, leaders of the Sindh Tarraqi Pasand Party, Sindh United Party, Sindh National Front  and others, addressed the public meeting.

“PPP has the blood of Shaheed Benazir on their hands,” accused the STP chairman, Dr Qadir Magsi. “The Sindhis will avenge this not by violent means, but by snatching the power from PPP in the next general elections.”

Magsi reiterated that the Sindh Progressive Nationalist Alliance (SPNA), which consists of STP, SUP and Awami Tehreek, will field joint candidates in the next elections for the first time. He also appealed to the factions of the Jeay Sindh Tehreek, especially the one led by Bashir Khan Qureshi, to become part of SPNA and engage in the electoral process. “The vote of your supporters is either being wasted or cast for the peeplas, leaguelas, mirs, pirs and feudals. They owe their representation in the legislature and the government to you.”

The Jeay Sindh Tehreek, founded by the late GM Syed, after the secession of Bangladesh, has been demanding independence of Sindh while staying away from the elections.

In his diatribe, Magsi rapped the knuckles of the MQM, Awami National Party and PPP while the feudals and leaders “pretending to be spiritual figures” were also not exempted. “The MQM leaders are wearing the Sindhi cap and ajrak not out of love for Sindh but because of the political resistance of the nationalists.”

The STP leader raked up the ethnic bloodshed in the 1980s which gave birth to their resistance movement.

Conspiracy theory

The STP leader suspected a conspiracy in the MQM’s bill on the new provinces. “The geographical boundaries of Sindh are as sacred to Sindhis as the holy book is to Muslims,” he said, rejecting the MQM’s notion that ‘boundaries are not sacred’.

According to the SUP vice president, Shah Mehmood Shah, feudalism, control of the government by the non-Sindhis and control of the provincial resources by the federation, are the multifaceted challenges faced by the nationalists. “This time the Sindhis will not vote for Bilawal but the Dodaus, Darya Khans and Surya Badshahs of the motherland,” he said while drawing an analogy between the nationalists and people who led resistance against the British occupation.

The SNF general secretary, Ayub Shar, declared the PPP as a traitor of Sindh. “Your [PPP] self-respect has stooped so low that you could not even react when the MQM members beat PPP MPAs in the Sindh Assembly.”

The resolutions passed on the occasion included a demand for changing the country’s name from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to Peoples Republic of Pakistan based on its multi-ethnic demography and the expulsion of those who migrated to Sindh after 1954.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2012.