Against SPLGO: Nationalists to hold strike today

Nationalists object to at least 35 provisions in ordinance which they believe are a conspiracy to erode Sindh’s unity.

HYDERABAD: The Save Sindh Committee has called for a province-wide strike today to protest against the enactment of Sindh Peoples Local Government Ordinance. “The ministers who voted in favour of the ordinance are traitors of Sindh,” said Sindh United Party’s president, Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah. The ordinance was promulgated on September 7 and the notification to implement it was issued on Saturday. Nationalists object to at least 35 provisions in the ordinance which they believe are a conspiracy to erode Sindh’s unity. They include the creation of five metropolitan corporations. Jeay Sindh Tehreek’s president, Dr Safdar Sarki, said, “The mayors of Karachi and Hyderabad will use the anti-encroachment police to raze historic Sindhi settlements.” Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party’s chairperson, Dr Qadir Magsi, critcised President Asif Zardari for going out of his way to please the key coalition partners. Nationalist leaders have asked other parties, such as Awami National Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional and National Peoples Party, to support the strike.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2012.