LARKANA: The Sindh chapter of Jamiat Ulema-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) has planned holding of a peace caravan from Kashmore to Karachi, the party’s ‘election oversee committee’ was quoted by sources as having decided after a congregation on Sunday.

Speakers at the congregation believed that peace in the crime-infested riverine belt was connected with the success of the ongoing operation to uproot criminal gangs and also measures to settle tribal disputes in the upper Sindh area. The peace caravan will set off from Kashmore on October 28, said the sources privy to the congregation, held in Kandhkot on Sunday.

Addressing the participants, JUI-F Sindh general secretary Maulana Rashid Mehmood Soomro underlined the need for chalking out a schedule for talks between rival communities and tribes to settle their issues and hammer out peace.

He said any individual or tribe, no matter how much influential, should be brought to book if not ready to help restore peace.

Plans Kashmore-Karachi caravan next month

He deplored hundreds people had been killed, wounded and affected due to the tribal clashes but chieftains of embattled tribes were playing the role of silent spectators which, according to him, was itself a crime.

PTI policies criticised

Maulana Soomro also criticised former prime minister Imran Khan’s policies, and claimed that due to ‘anti-state’ agreements inked by the PTI chief, the IMF was today in the driving seat of Pakistan’s economy and controlling POL prices. The skyrocketing prices of the items of daily use were also owing to Imran Khan’s flawed and defective economic policies and his myopic approach, he said.

“Those who had propelled Imran Khan to power are today saying that he was toeing policies of Jews,” the JUI-F leader observed.

PPP accused of massive corruption

Turning his guns of criticism to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Maulana Soomro alleged that during its rule over Sindh, that party had siphoned off Rs77 billion in the name of providing low-cost flour to the masses. Therefore, he added, the flour price today was touching height and the poor were unable to afford the inflation, he added.

It was quite unfortunate that despite heavy allocation to the tune of Rs2.5 trillion for hospitals in the province, patients were crying for modern facilities of ultrasound, x-ray and even for commonly used tablets, he alleged.

He said a huge amount of Rs85 billion was earmarked for education sector but schools were turned into cattle pens and their spaces were occupied by influential figures. This, in turn, rendered seven million children out of schools in the province, he added. He questioned whether the same faces would be voted again to return to restore peace and ensure rights to the people. “Should those who sold out Sindh’s islands, resources and lands come again to rule, he asked.

He declared: “This will not happen again,” and said that people of Sindh had now learnt more and understood the situation well.

He in unequivocal terms said that the JUI-F would not leave the field open to other political parties to have a walkover. With the help of God and support of people, the JUI-F would pull Sindh out of the jaws of crocodiles, he remarked.

Abdul Qayoom Halejvi, JUI-F deputy chief, Maulana Abdul Aziz Pathan, Mufti Abdul Rahim Pathan and others also addressed the congregation.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2023