SUKKUR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl Sindh secretary general Rashid Mehmood Soomro has said that rulers, who have looted the province as if it is their parental legacy, also patronise dacoits and criminals.

They were the same who had looted the public exchequer, hospitals’ funds and precious natural resources but now those, who had ruled Sindh for 75 years, would be surrounded. Injustices to people would no more be tolerated, he said while speaking to participants of his party’s ‘Peace March’ which reached Jacobabad on Tuesday. Maulana Soomro said the outgoing rulers had snatched away Roti, Kapra aur Makaan (bread, clothes and shelter) from the poor people. Sindh could not be left at the mercy of the bandits, whether they be from riverine or urban areas, or chieftains, nabobs or feudal lords, he said.

He deplored that children were being criminally assaulted in Sindh while sardars, nabobs and landlords openly killed the poor to grab their lands. The poor were getting poorer by the day while those, who bagged their votes to come to power, were becoming billionaires, he said.

He said that those, who had been shouting slogan of Roti, Kapra aur Makaan for the poor, had in reality snatched even last loaves of bread from them, occupied their houses, stripped them of their clothes and gave them shrouds to wear.

Rashid Soomro leads ‘Peace March’ to Jacobabad

He claimed that Rs2.566 billion had been spent only on police in Jacobabad district within a year, still it failed to establish law and order in the crime-infested district.

He said that Rs23.56 million had been allocated for the repairs of Sim Nullah, Rs1.9266 billion for health and Rs10 billion for education sector in Jacobabad but people were still awaiting peace and quality change in health and education sectors.

About the Israeli attacks on Palestine, he said that international terrorists were attacking defenceless Palestinians who were fighting with their bare hands.

He said that Israel had kept Al-Aqsa mosque, the first Qibla of Muslims, under occupation, and reiterated that his party had always stood by Palestinians in the past and it stood with them now.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2023