Firestarter: Sacrifice animals, not Sindh says Mirza

Zulfiqar Mirza predicts the return of the commissionerate system.

HYDERABAD: Animals should be sacrificed during Eidul Azha, not Sindh, thundered Zulfiqar Mirza in Qasimabad on Sunday. “We will not tolerate anyone cutting the province into pieces.”

The former Sindh home minister, who has been in the news for his hard-hitting oratory, addressed a public meeting near the Nasim Nagar Bridge here in the constituency of provincial minister Zahid Bhurgari on Sunday.

As expected, he focused on the local government system in the province, which has been the subject of much wrangling between his party, the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a coalition ally. Mirza has opposed the MQM’s demands. At the meeting, he reiterated his stance that no compromise should be or would be made as far reinstating the commissionerate system in Sindh was concerned. This is the system that the PPP favoured. “The provincial government should not delude itself by thinking that they will be able to introduce any other system,” he said. “The commissionerate system will be restored after Eid, think of it as a gift from God.”

Turning to the minister Bhurgari, Mirza continued with his criticism of party MPAs. He referred to the 300,000 arms licences he had issued during his tenure as home minister and told the crowd that nearly 50,000 of them were given to Bhurgari. But he went on to add that he had no idea if Bhurgari had “sold” or distributed them.

At one point, the PPP leader, who gave up his seat as an MPA a month ago, asked people to join his one-point agenda to eliminate the MQM. Over the microphone, he urged the people to stand up and fight for their rights, a stance that is certain to earn him some points with the Sindhi nationalist votebank. “Arm yourself with weapons, axes, sticks, knives and scissors. I will lead you,” he said. “I am prepared to kill 10,000 people for Sindh and what it stands for.” And just in case his words were misconstrued, Mirza hastened to add that Urdu-speaking people were innocent and everyone had learnt a lot from their experience. With this disclaimer, he demonstrated that he had learnt a few political lessons from an earlier speech which made him vastly unpopular with Urdu-speaking residents of the province.

Among other workers, PPP member Mirza Aashiq Beg accompanied Mirza. They also took this opportunity to declare that Khadim Baksh Jahejo should be nominated as the next district chairman.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th,  2011.