THATTA: Thousands of people attended the funeral of veteran politician and founder of the Awami Tehreek (AT) Rasool Bakhsh Palijo in his ancestral village, Mughar Khan Palijo, located along the hilly terrain of Jungshahi on Friday.

People from all walks of life, mainly AT workers, activists of all Sindhi nationalist parties and groups, admirers of his literary works and followers, besides relatives and friends, had started pouring in as soon as they came to know that Palijo was being buried in the village. It was learnt that there was a difference of opinion between his relatives and senior AT leaders as to where he should be buried.

Hyderabad, Thatta, Makli and the graveyard of Mughar Khan Palijo village were proposed by different groups of relatives and party workers but finally a consensus was evolved when the bereaved family decided to bury him within the compound of his house in the village. An unprecedented expression of love and affinity as well as grief was witnessed on the part of an exceptionally disciplined women mourners when they lined up and shouldered the coffin along with men as it passed by their long queue. Led by activists of Sindhyani Tehreek — AT’s women wing — the women also joined in the funeral prayers offered by men. Among them was Palijo’s niece Sassui Palijo, a former senator who also previously served as the provincial culture minister.

Carrying party flags, AT’s male and female workers kept reciting nationalist songs and raising slogans of Palijo khe surk salam (red salute to the Palijo) along the course of the funeral procession until the body was laid to rest.

Ayaz Latif Palijo, a son of the late Palijo, along with other family members and close relatives, including Sassui’s father, Ghulam Qadir Palijo (who is chairman of the Thatta district council), remained close to the coffin throughout the day-long funeral rites.

Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP) chairman Dr Qadir Magsi, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) chairman Sanan Qureshi, former Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) minister Mohamamd Ali Malkani, Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM) chief Abdul Khaliq Junejo and its Arisar faction head Ameer Hasan Panhwer, Shirazi group’s Riaz Shah Shirazi, Sindh Hari Tehreek (SHT) leader Azhar Jatoi and Dada Qadir Ranto were prominent among the leaders and senior activists of various political and nationalist organisations who attended the funeral.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2018