A
view of the City of Hyderabad where the SCF was formed
Heart and Soul of Sindh
Put Together Against Army Establishment
Special
South Asia Tribune Report
HYDERABAD,
Pakistan, February 19: Leading writers, intellectuals, politicians
and technocrats of Sindh have put together the “heart and
soul of Sindh” to resist what they call the destructive
designs of General Pervez Musharraf and his Army against the smaller
provinces of Pakistan.
At
a meeting on Feb 15, those who gathered to express their deep
concern and outrage sounded like a Who’s Who of Sindh. The
list did not miss any big credible name, in almost any field and
the intensity of their opinions and feelings marked the heightened
state of anxiety and frustration with the civil and military Establishment
of Pakistan, dominated by Punjab.
The
meeting, the first to cut across political and other affiliations,
announced the formation of a "Sindh Consultative Forum (SCF)"
decided that the SCF will prepare the Sindh Agenda, would argue
the National Case of Sindh, would collect the necessary data and
would educate the general masses through write-ups, letters, documentaries,
articles and press conferences.
The
key speakers at the meeting spent quite some time on explaining
the present national, international, economic and political situation
with the help of facts, figures and charts and argued that the
present Government was about to push Sindh and Pakistan into a
an unmitigated disaster.
They
said: "During the last 58 years of Pakistan, Sindh has been
robbed and destroyed left, right and center and if not resisted
through peaceful and democratic means, the Establishment will
continue with its nefarious designs of destroying the province."
“Its
remaining share of water will be taken away through dams built
on River Indus, illegally and unconstitutionally for the sake
of perpetration of power. Sindh government will remain in the
hands of dummies and terrorists to a much worse extent than now
and everything, from transfers and postings of peons to getting
a simple job done, will be possible only through money, much like
now, only on a scale unseen and unthinkable. A great disaster
is about to be hit Sindh and Pakistan out of which they will be
unable to come out."
The meeting was attended by the founder members of the "Sindh
Consultative Forum (SCF)" including journalist GN Mughal,
Ex-Senator Abdul Majeed Qazi, Former Provincial Secretary Agha
Shahabudin, President Water Committee Rasool Bux Palijo, Opposition
Leader and PPP MPA Nisar Ahmed Khoro, Economist Professor Mushtaq
Mirani, Human Rights Lawyer Ayaz Latif Palijo, Agricultural Expert
Nazeer Memon, Aijaz Ali Hakro Advocate, Dr Ayoob Shaikh, President
Indus Theatre and columnist A G Chandio, Professor Siraj Ahmed
Siyal, Professor Najma Shaikh, Dr. Gulzar Jumani, Women Activist
Zahida Shaikh, Aftab Bhutto Advocate, Women Activist Rehana Channar,
Peasant and Minority Leader Wishnoo Mal, Educationist Dr Agha
Taj, TV Director Atta Rajar and others.
The
speakers said that the people of Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan have
become wise to the fact that through unending conspiracies and
treachery, the Governments have progressively robbed smaller provinces
of their share of resources, jobs, finance and water.
The
last 150 years are a litany of broken agreements, plain thefts
and disadvantageous agreements thrust upon Sindh and upon 140
million poor people of Pakistan through puppet governments installed
by the establishment.
The
members of the SCF vowed that they have taken upon themselves
the sacred duty of keeping the people of Sindh informed about
all the mischievous anti-Sindh schemes that the Establishment
keep springing up at regular intervals, at the behest, and for
the sole advantage, of the ruling class of Punjab, in matters
relating to unjust distribution of resources and revenues and
the inequitable solution of the waters of the Indus River System.
Other
invitees including Columnist Dodo Chandio, Sindhi Adabi Board
Chairman Muhammad Ibrahim Joyo, MPA Makhdoom Jamil-u-Zaman, TV
Director and Columnist Mushtaq Rajpar, Advocate Muzaffar Sadiq
Bhatti, Writer Noor-ul-Huda Shah, MNA Manzoor Wassan, Women Activist
Sahar Gul Bhatti, MPA Sassui Palijo, Professor Ameer Ali Qadri,
Professor Mumtaz Bhutto, MPA Farheen Mughal, Columnist Humera
Noor, Writer Yousif Shaheen, who could not attend this emergency
meeting, also endorsed the idea of formation of the "Sindh
Consultative Forum" and extended their full support to the
cause.
