Writers and thinkers of Sindh ask people to choose leaders wisely

Accuse the ruling govt of bringing the province to the brink.

KARACHI: With elections around the corner, members of the Sindh Writers and Thinkers Forum put forward their own demands and suggestions at a seminar, titled ‘Sindh Agenda Conference’, on Saturday at the Karachi Press Club.

Sindhi writers and thinkers urged voters of the province to establish and promote the culture of accountability of public representatives and also to end the trend of following ‘influential people’. They bitterly criticised the present government for supporting the local government system on an ethnic basis.

More than 100 literary figures attended the event arranged by the forum, which came into existence after the implementation of the Sindh Peoples Local Government Ordinance. According to the agenda for elections 2013, the forum said that a new social contract should be made among the constituent units of the federation of Pakistan through a new constituent assembly on the basis of the 1940 Lahore Resolution.

The forum also demanded that the government make Sindhi language one of the national languages of the country. The natural and economic resources of Sindh should be utilised for the development of the province and its people. The local government system should be made effective in Sindh on the basis of global democratic norms and practices.



Renowned writer, social activist and political worker, Jami Chandio, asked the government to send back more than three million foreigners staying in Sindh. “Terrorists and people from the feudal system have been ruling Sindh for years while the federal government keeps interfering in its matters.”

The participants discussed different political issues in Sindh and stressed that only politically aware people can bring peace and stability. They accused the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party of deceiving its Sindhi voters who have unconditionally supported the party for the last 40 years. Discussing the turbulent law and order situation in Karachi, they held the government responsible for creating such conditions where innocent people are being killed daily.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2013.