The rally was organised to honour those killed in the Mohabat-e-Sindh rally on May 22 and oppose the division of the province. The entry points to Lyari had been blocked by containers and police vehicles were stationed nearby. However, all these measures did not prevent people from various parts of the province from taking part in the rally. Members from different nationalist and political parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Awami National Party (ANP) also turned up to show their support.
“Benazir Bhutto was not allowed to organise rallies but she went ahead and held them anyway,” said Palijo while addressing the rally. “Why doesn’t the Sindh government let us protest? It is our right to do so.” He added that those who protected Benazir throughout her life are being targeted while those who ran away are in positions of power.
Palijo said that no arrest warrant or ban could have kept him away. “I have come with the message of love. We want to develop a prosperous Pakistan. We are against terrorists, not Urdu-speaking people.”
Palijo encouraged ANP, JI and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to demand the government to take action against the killing of Sindhis and Balochis in Karachi.
The Karachi City Alliance chief, Uzair Jan Baloch, said that his party opposes those who are against Pakistan. “We are at war with tyrants. The government has given free rein to terrorists and innocent people are being killed. I will fight for citizens’ rights till my last breath.”
ANP leader Bashir Jan said, “We are coalition partners, not slaves of the government. We will not stand for anything which goes against democracy.”
“This city does not belong to only one political party or ethnicity and the imposition of section 144 cannot save tyrants,” said Sindh JI leader Asadullah Bhutto.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 16th, 2012.
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Atleast ET once again showed courage to give coverage to issue. In democratic system, every one has right to do peaceful protest. Any party can do Jalsa but if Sindhi nationalists go for some Jalsa in their own motherland capital Karachi, they are stopped with section 144 and containers. Shame on Govt and their alliance partners.