THATTA: Leaders and activists of various nationalist parties and groups from Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa attended the 4th death anniversary programme of veteran nationalist leader and founder of the Awami Tehreek (AT) Rasool Bakhsh Palijo held in Mangar Khan Palijo village of Thatta district on Tuesday night.

Speakers on the occasion paid homage to the late leader by recalling his commitment to nationalism and life-long struggle for the rights of the downtrodden lot of Sindh. They said Mr Palijo led a sustained movement against feudal system and exploitation of farmers, peasants, tillers, labourers and other oppressed segments of society.

The speakers included AT president Dr Rasool Bakhsh Khaskheli, senior vice president Abdul Qadir Ranto, vice presidents Hoor un Nissa Palijo and Advocate Sajjad Chandio, and general secretary Noor Ahmed Katiar.

Dr Khaskheli said this huge gathering proved that Mr Palijo served all nationalist forces and always raised the voice of the oppressed people of not only Sindh but the entire country. He spent every moment of his political life for the rights of Sindhi and other nations. He observed that the current political situation in Sindh and the rest of the country showed that the ultimate powers were bent upon dragging all these nations into devastation.

Sindh’s share in water, shelving of mega housing projects demanded through resolutions

Mr Ranto remarked: “The anti-Sindh policies pursued by the Pakistan Peoples Party in its 15-year rule have led Sindhi people to the point of abject poverty and helplessness where they had now left with no other option but to sell their children”. He said Palijo had started his movement with a powerful struggle against ‘One Unit’ and actively participated in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, Hari conferences, and rallies for freedom of the press, independence of judiciary and Sindh’s right on its resources including Indus water. He said the veteran leader continued his struggle till his last breath.

He said Sindh bravely fought against foreign invaders and successfully defended its lands and people for which thousands of Sindhis laid down their lives. However, he regretted, Sindh’s integrity had been under attack ever since the Independence by way of denial of its due share in Indus water and settling of illegal immigrants on its soil on a large scale.

He observed that Pakistan won independence from the British but became a colony of the United States, which used to install and remove governments through the establishment. He said every citizen of Pakistan would now have to fight for the rights of Sindh.

Mr Katiar condemned rulers of Punjab who, according to him, in collusion with Sindh’s bureaucracy conspired to render Sindh’s lands barren by snatching its water. He said Sindh’s lands and resources were being doled out to builders in the name of mega projects.

Zain Shah of the Sindh United Party (SUP) seconded Mr Katiar’s observations, and said that a conspiracy to divide Sindh was also being hatched but it would be resisted tooth and nail. He lauded the decades-long struggle by Palijo for the rights of Sindhi nation, and said he had introduced international political literature in local politics, organised a women movement in the shape of ‘Sindhyani Tehreek’ and also formed a united front for labourers and farm workers within the AT fold.

Many resolutions were adopted at the programme. One of them called for giving all constitutional and legal rights to federating units as per the 1940 Pakistan Resolution and ensuring Sindh’s share in Indus water as per the internationally recognised principals. It demanded a fair settlement of the issue through a bipartisan international team of water and environment experts. It described the RBOD and LBOD projects as ‘anti-Sindh’, and called for shelving them. It said the losses to Sindh’s agriculture sector caused by these projects be suitably compensated. The resolution also called for closure of CJ and TP link canals at once.

Another resolution demanded cancellation of allotments to builders for various mega housing projects in Sindh and strongly opposed construction of any dam over Indus.

Yet another resolution demanded implementation of Supreme Court’s judgement in the Karachi unrest case and repatriation of all illegal immigrants from Sindh to their country of origin.

Others who attended the programme included Younus Buneri of Awami National Party, Nazeer Jan Baloch of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Syed Lal Shah of Awami Jamhoori Party, Comrade Zia Bhatti of Awami Workers Party, Khwaja Ghulam Farid Koreja of Seraekistan Qaumi Ittehad, Advocate Shafqat Hussain of Pakistan Seraeki Party, Dr Dildar Leghari of Sindh Hari Tehreek, Rauf Sasoli and Jami Chandio.

A group of schoolgirls presented salute to late Rasool Bakhsh Palijo and several other groups performed in tableaux and sang nationalist songs.

Eminent classic dancer and Tehreek-i-Niswan leader Sheema Kirmani also performed at the programme.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2022