Protests held across province against PPP-Muttahida deal

Sindh nationalist parties say MQM seeks to divide Sindh

HYDRABAD:

The workers of Qomi Awami Tehreek took to streets in many districts of Sindh rejecting the power sharing deal made between Pakistan Peoples Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).

On the call of QAT President Ayaz Latif Palijo the party's workers staged protests and sit-in demonstrations on Thursday, accusing the two parties of conspiring to divide Sindh. The QAT's workers will hold protests for two more days till April 16.

The Sindhi nationalist parties have given calls to their workers to hold protests across the province to express their disapproval of the agreement struck by PPP and MQM-P.

QAT head and Grand Democratic Alliance General Secretary Ayaz Latif Palijo has asked his workers to protest for three consecutive days starting April 14 while Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party chief Dr Qadir Magsi is organising a conference of all nationalist parties on the issue.

"The people of Sindh will hold protests and sit-in demonstrations and observe hunger strikes in the province to condemn and reject this agreement among the PPP, MQM-P and PML-N," said Palijo. He argued that the PPP seems to have traded off Sindh by letting the MQM-P insert the clause of creating new administrative units in Sindh which practically means dividing the province.

Palijo said they are not opposed to appointment of Urdu speaking, Punjabi or Pakhtoon persons as the chief secretary, inspector general or other high ranking officer in Sindh. However, giving political power to an ethnic organisation responsible for killing innocent people will be a great injustice to the province, he added.

"We consider the agreement between those three political parties [PPP, PML-N and MQM-P] a conspiracy against Sindh," said Dr Magsi. "We also regard the persons who were involved in striking the agreement as enemies of Sindh." He said that his party will hold a national conference on the issue on April 17.

Jeay Sindh Qaumi Party Chairman Nawaz Khan Zaunr accused the feudal lords and political dynasties of Sindh for compromising interests of the province over their personal ambitions. He said his party rejected the agreement, contending that it will end creating friction between the ethnic populations in Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th, 2022.