Slow and steady: Anti-local government movement gains strength

Organisations representing Sindhi expatriates in US and UK have also joined in.

HYDERABAD: Bolstered by support from writers, poets and the Sindhi diaspora, the movement against Sindh Peoples Local Government Act, 2012, appears to be gaining strength.

The reinforcement in the resolve comes on the heels of, perhaps in reaction to, the October 15 Hyderabad public gathering of the Pakistan Peoples Party. The ruling party had vehemently defended the new local government system and lambasted its opponents, saying they do not count.

Since the day the ordinance was promulgated on September 7, nationalists and opposition parties in the Sindh Assembly and many in the National Assembly have been opposing the local governance system. Some organisations representing Sindhi expatriates in the US and the UK have also recently made their voices heard and that too vociferously.

“The Sindhi Association of North America (Sana) categorically rejects this dangerous and hatred-spreading law,” said Sana president Dr Waleed Shaikh while talking to The Express Tribune.

The North American association has also launched an advertisement campaign to convey its disapproval of the new local government system. “Sana stands with its Sindhi brothers against this traitor [sic] bill. We will raise our voice in the whole world while struggling in the resistance movement with our brothers,” said Shaikh.

Underscoring the need of an alternate leadership for the people of the province, he advised the nationalist parties to form a think-tank to do the paperwork on legislative and other technical issues.

A similar censure came from the World Sindhi Congress on the eve of its 24th international conference in London on October 13. Attended by its delegates from the US, UK, Canada, India and Pakistan among other countries, it was demanded at the conference that the new local government system be revoked.

Sunday’s demonstration by writers and poets in Benazirabad and Mirpurkhas gives the message that the government is mistaken in its stance that the system’s detractors are only some illiterate nationalists, who do not even represent the masses.

“Sindh is united in condemnation and opposition of the bill,” claimed Dr Mushtaq Phul, the general secretary of Sindhi Adabi Sangat, while addressing the protesting intellectuals in Benazirabad.

Rejecting the assertions of the PPP leaders, he added that writers, lawyers, teachers, peasants, fishermen and all the other segments of the society are against the new system.

“Sindh, its language and its culture have survived thousands of years,” said writer Mir Mohammed Peerzado. Poet Abdul Hakeem said the protest in the hometown of President Asif Ali Zardari sends a message which is meant to awaken the rulers that they should not take the Sindh’s mandate for granted.

In his telephonic address at a rally in Digri area of Mirpurkhas, former Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim also criticised the rulers for imposing local governments on the people. In Tando Muhammad Khan, the nationalists attracted thousands of people at a rally on Monday against the Sindh Peoples Local Government Act.

Save Sindh Committee leaders, including Jalal Mehmood Shah, Dr Qadir Magsi, Ayaz Palijo, Dr Safdar Sarki, Aakash Mallah as well as PML-N’s Saleem Zia, PML-F’s Pir Shabbir Jan Sarhandi were present at the demonstration held near Ghullamullah Park.

Pir Pagara urges writers to use skills against SPLGA

On Tuesday, many writers and poets headed to the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) leader Pir Pagara’s house to voice their anger at the SPLGA.

Hussain Haroon, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the UN, also criticised the new system.

Pir Pagara assured the writers that he would not only continue struggle until the new local government law is withdrawn, but would bring drastic changes to his party’s manifesto so that it addresses the  province’s most pressing issues. “I ask writers and poets to wage war against the new local government system by putting their writing skills to use.”

Mushtaque Phul, the general secretary of the Sindhi Abadi Sangat, said that not only would they start writing against the system, but would participate in all protests against the system.

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