HYDERABAD, Oct 7: The Servants of Sindh Society has expressed serious concern over the state of Sindh’s economy, especially with regard to an acute water shortage for many years.

At a meeting held in Karachi recently, the society said the situation could be rectified if sufficient water was released downstream Kotri barrage throughout the year.

Eminent writer, lawyer and former editor of Sindhi newspapers Sirajul Haq Memon presided over the meeting.

The resolutions adopted at the meeting were released to the press by SSS vice-president Ibrahim Joyo here on Wednesday.

The meeting observed that non-distribution of water according to the 1991 Water Accord was the main cause for the sorry state of economy in the province.

It rejected the construction of any dam on the Indus River System and claimed that as a lower riparian Sindh had the first right and the last word on the Indus River.

The meeting demanded that sufficient water be allowed to flow steadily and permanently into the sea to save the delta and the entire Indus civilization.

The society was equally disturbed over the rising poverty in Sindh and said the World Bank and Asian Development Bank had painted a very gloomy picture of the prevailing situation.

Quoting the World Bank report, it said an average 0.5 per cent decline in per capita income every year was recorded in Sindh since 1999 while in other parts of the country an average annual growth rate had been recorded at 1.3 per cent.

It pointed out that the bank had suggested undertaking a responsible study of Sindh’s economy, revamping of policies and introduction of institutional reforms to reverse the situation.

Quoting federal minister Mr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the society pointed out that even a minister had been constrained to call Sindh “as rich in resources but the poorest among all the provinces of Pakistan”.

The society demanded that the government should take a very serious note of the prevailing situation and adopt immediate measures to put Sindh on the road to a sustainable and balanced level of existence as a self-supporting and self-governing unit of Pakistan.

It also took a serious view of the remarks of the president on the rape victims and called upon him to take back his words and apologize to the nation.

It criticized the governance of Sindh by the chief minister and his team.

It said the chief minister at the behest of one of his coalition partners, divided the districts of Sindh into small fiefdoms for terrorists and tribal lords.

It expressed concern over the resolution adopted by the Sindh Assembly that in Karachi, jobs in multinational corporations and big private organizations would only be given to the people having domicile of Karachi.

It termed the decision as violation of the constitutional rights of the people of Sindh.

It noted that it was a calculated move to incite hatred among the local population and other groups in Sindh.

It demanded that the government and the Sindh Assembly should recall the irresponsible decision.

It took strong exception to step-motherly treatment being meted out to the Sindhi language by the education department.

The meeting observed that the government of Sindh had failed to protect the interests of mother tongue.

It criticized the education department for violating the established practice that Sindhi language would be taught upto 5th primary class level and only then English or any other language would be introduced.

It demanded that the Sindh government and the chief minister should ensure that Sindhi language be taught from class-I to class-V as a right of the Sindhi people.

In another resolution, the society termed the local body elections as a total farce which was aimed at foisting the king’s party.

It claimed that overwhelming opinion in the country was that the elections were rigged.

It expressed shock over the alleged atrocities being committed on some of the youth of Sindh on the political basis.

The SSS was of the view that Sindh was being treated as a colony in revolt and feared that this could lead to yet a worse scenario.