Progressive alliance: Sindhi nationalists elect Jalal Shah
SPNA is a coalition of three mainstream Sindhi nationalist parties.
HYDERABAD:
Sindh United Party Chairman Jalal Shah has been elected as the head of the Sindh Progressive National Alliance (SPNA).
The SPNA is a coalition of three mainstream Sindhi nationalist parties - the Sindh Tarraqi Pasand Party (STPP), Awami Tehreek (AT) and Sindh United Party. They met on Saturday to select their new leader - the seat is on rotation and a new leader is selected every six months. However, no one was there to represent the AT.
Shah took the opportunity to criticise the government, which he said has taken a non-serious attitude on an extremely serious issue. “It should have called Hussain Haqqani back and started an investigation immediately.”
He criticised the government for adopting what he said was a confrontational policy with the Supreme Court (SC) over the memo issue. Shah disapproved of how the government’s inability to handle the situation had caused the armed forces to worry. Jalal advised the government to respect the SC’s judgement.
STPP Chairman Dr Qadir Magsi accused the Pakistan Peoples Party of trying to turn the court into a battlefield. He demanded the government implement all judgments made by the SC, including those on the May 12 Karachi violence, National Reconciliation Ordinance and the memo commission.
Both men condemned the Nato attacks and said that they would participate as joint candidates from the SPNA in the next general elections.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2011.
Sindh United Party Chairman Jalal Shah has been elected as the head of the Sindh Progressive National Alliance (SPNA).
The SPNA is a coalition of three mainstream Sindhi nationalist parties - the Sindh Tarraqi Pasand Party (STPP), Awami Tehreek (AT) and Sindh United Party. They met on Saturday to select their new leader - the seat is on rotation and a new leader is selected every six months. However, no one was there to represent the AT.
Shah took the opportunity to criticise the government, which he said has taken a non-serious attitude on an extremely serious issue. “It should have called Hussain Haqqani back and started an investigation immediately.”
He criticised the government for adopting what he said was a confrontational policy with the Supreme Court (SC) over the memo issue. Shah disapproved of how the government’s inability to handle the situation had caused the armed forces to worry. Jalal advised the government to respect the SC’s judgement.
STPP Chairman Dr Qadir Magsi accused the Pakistan Peoples Party of trying to turn the court into a battlefield. He demanded the government implement all judgments made by the SC, including those on the May 12 Karachi violence, National Reconciliation Ordinance and the memo commission.
Both men condemned the Nato attacks and said that they would participate as joint candidates from the SPNA in the next general elections.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2011.