‘Sindh Awareness March’ sets off from Kandhkot

GDA's Palijo slams PPP, PTI over islands ordinance, inflation on first day of five-day protest rally

HYDERABAD:

The five-day-long 'Sindh Awareness March' - a rally protesting the Pakistan Islands Development Authority (PIDA) Ordinance and other issues 'challenging' Sindh's provincial autonomy - commenced in Kashmore-Kandhkot district on Wednesday.

The protest rally, with thousands of participants including local leaders of various nationalist parties and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, passed through various rural and semi-urban towns on its first day.

Led by Grand Democratic Alliance general-secretary and Qaumi Awami Tehreek head Ayaz Latif Palijo, the march will cover a distance of over 1,000 kilometres to reach Karachi on the fifth day.

Addressing the rally on Wednesday, Palijo said, "We will not allow anyone to plunder Sindh in the name of so-called development." He further questioned how people could expect high-quality education, health and other facilities from a government that could not even provide them clean drinking water.

"We also reject the sale of Tharparkar's Karoonjhar Mountains," he added, referring to a recent controversy that has been refuted by government officials.

Palijo alleged that through the PIDA Ordinance promulgated by President Dr Arif Alvi, the Centre wanted to occupy Dingi and Bhandar islands, off Karachi's shores, even though the islands were Sindh's property.

He also held the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led federal government, of which GDA is an ally, responsible for inflation and economic problems in the country. "[But] the people of Sindh have now risen to defend their natural resources and defeat corruption."

Moreover, Palijo expressed disapproval for the Karachi committee, which comprises PTI, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leaders, and declared it an "unconstitutional attempt to usurp Sindh's authority."

"The PPP is hand in glove with the PTI in the conspiracy to handover Sindh's islands to the Centre," he claimed.

The rally's participants demanded the immediate revocation of the presidential ordinance.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2020.