ANP, GDA see conspiracy in recent killings in Sindh

Ayaz Palijo vows to foil schemes to instigate conflict between Sindhis and Pakhtuns

HYDERABAD: Following the murder of Irshad Ranjhani in Karachi and the killings of three Bajaur residents in Larkana, the leaders of Awami National Party (ANP) and the nationalist parties met on Saturday and vowed to foil any conspiracy of triggering Sindhi-Pashtun conflict. ANP Sindh President Shahi Syed and representatives of Pashtun Peace Jirga separately met Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) General Secretary Ayaz Latif Palijo and Sindh United Party (SUP) President Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah in Hyderabad and Jamshoro, respectively.

They all demanded punishment, according to the law, for the killers of Ranjhani and three Pashtuns. Syed said that the country would not progress if the menace of terrorism and ethnic violence was not eradicated. "We want peace in Sindh as much as any other resident of the province because our children's livelihoods are connected with this province. We want development of this province more than KPK [Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa] because we live here."

He said that Ranjhani's murder and the reaction to the killing made him remember veteran politician and senior lawyer Rasool Bux Palijo and Baacha Khan who always preached peaceful political struggle. He thanked Palijo for withdrawing February 14 call for a strike across the province over Ranjhani's murder.



Palijo observed that the two successive incidents had tried to destroy peace in Sindh. "Sindh rejects ethnic violence," he said adding that Pakhtuns are brothers of Sindhis and recalled the political movements in which the two people had struggled together.

"We will not allow this scheme of instigating a conflict between Sindhis and Pashtun to become successful," he vowed, demanding that the culprits be brought to book in both the incidents.

SUP's Shah deplored that the police were trying to implicate Sindh's nationalists in the killing of three Pashtuns in Larkana. "It seems that both the incidents were planned under some conspiracy," he said. Shah said that the SUP followed the principles of politics practised by late GM Syed, who rejected violence. He also condemned the killings and demanded the arrest of the culprits.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2019.