Parties join hands for ‘Save Sindh Committee’

Rejecting the six-member coordination committee set up by the Sindh and federal government to resolve Karachi's problems and decrying the Centre's 'meddling' in the province, a number of political parties announced the formation of the 'Save Sindh Committee' to lead the struggle against the alleged 'conspiracy' of dividing the province on Saturday.

Leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Pakhtunkhuwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP), Sindh United Party (SUP), Awami Tehreek, Qaumi Awami Tehreek, Awami Workers Party and National Democratic Party, among others, took this step at a multi-party conference organised by the Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party (STPP) in Hyderabad.

The committee, which is to comprise the provincial presidents of all federal parties as well as the heads of all Sindhi nationalist parties, will convene a meeting in the coming days and announce their protest strategy.

Speaking at the conference, STPP chairperson Dr Qadir Magsi insisted the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan - all three of which are represented in the committee - had created an artificial crisis.

"They have made the Karachi crisis appear as a burning issue, but in reality, it isn't an issue at all," he maintained, alleging that they wanted to separate the port city from Sindh and stir ethnic strife to fulfill a foreign agenda.

He underlined that all the parties attending the conference had unanimously opposed the Karachi committee and the Centre's intrusion in Sindh, adding that only a federal, democratic and parliamentary system that ensured just distribution of all resources could strengthen the federation.

"Any move creating anarchy in Sindh will destabilise Pakistan," he warned and demanded, on behalf of the parties at the conference, that Articles 15 and 23, pertaining to free movement and right to property ownership across the country, should be removed.

SUP president Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, meanwhile, contended that the federal government wanted to remove the maritime boundaries between the Centre and Sindh, pointing out that the latter controlled the sea within 12 nautical miles of land. "The Centre wants to control the ports and reap the benefits of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor at the province's cost."

Asserting that the PPP should have opposed the committee, he maintained that governance problems were supposed to be resolved by the government instead of committees. "Rainwater drainage and waste disposal are not issues limited to Karachi alone. They exist in the entire province."

AWP's Javed Rajpar claimed the PTI, PPP and MQM-P were clashing over resources and were unconcerned about the public interest. "Did they obtain a mandate from the people [in the 2018 elections] to separate Karachi from Sindh?" he questioned, adding that 70 per cent of the city was already under the establishment's control

While PML-N Sindh president Syed Shah Muhammad Shah argued that there was a new conspiracy to separate Karachi from the province, Awami Tehreek's Sajjad Chandio stated that the PPP had introduced the dual local government system in the past that had practically split Sindh into two entities. "Now the PPP has become part of a new but similar plan."

PKMAP leader Sikandar Khan, meanwhile, stated that Pashtuns would stand with Sindh's people against any move to split the province. "Sindhis, Balochis, Pashtuns and Seraikis have been living in their motherland for thousands of years and demand the acceptance of their rights within these nation's geographical boundaries."

However, he objected to criticism by some Sindhi nationalist parties who did not differentiate between illegal immigrants and Pashtuns living in Karachi and other parts of Sindh.

"If Sindh is divided, Pakistan will be divided, but we want both united," averred JUI-F's Taj Muhammad Nahiyon, also blaming the PPP for consenting to the Karachi committee's formation. "How can the federal government, which has failed to perform in the entire country, help address the woes of Karachiites?"

Meanwhile, as JI's Abdul Waheed Qureshi held the PPP and MQM-P culpable for provoking ethnic tensions to further their political objectives, QAT's Mazhar Rahujo insisted Sindh's people would not accept decisions made by the PPP, PTI and MQM-P behind closed doors.

Expressing fear that Sindhi settlements in Karachi would be uprooted in the name of encroachments, he suggested that the parties at the conference should resort to peaceful strikes in the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2020.