Hunger strike: Comrade Sehto to take his form of protest to Islamabad

KHAIRPUR:

Comrade Ghulam Rasool Sehto, who is 60 years old and recently completed a 90-day hunger strike while protesting against water shortage and closure of tube wells, has now decided to take his protest movement to Islamabad.

“No need to stay in a city of deaf and dumb people,” Sehto said to his friends in Mirpur Mathelo on Thursday as he made his way to Islamabad in an Edhi ambulance. Due to his popular stand, he has been called the Anna Hazare of Sindh, after the Indian social activist. Sehto and his friends had established a protest camp in Phol Bagh three months back.

Sehto claims that over 150,000 acres of agricultural land was destroyed due to a shortage of water and the closure of tube wells in Khairpur district, which is also home to Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah. However, Sehto minced no words about Shah’s involvement, or lack thereof, in the whole situation. “The chief minister is a good man but he is not allowed to interfere in irrigation matters,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2012.