HYDERABAD, March 26: The Awami Action Committee, Union Council-4, Qasimabad taluka, has threatened to launch a protest movement from April 3 if 15 workers sacked by the HQ3 gas company, Shah Bukhari Deh, are not reinstated and local people are not appointed by the Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited and the HQ3 gas company. Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Saturday, Mehboob Abro, Qaisar Khan Talpur, Ghanwar Khan Chandio, Saleem Chang, Yousuf Palari, Lal Khan Jatoi and other committee leaders said area residents were happy over establishment of the gas company in Shah Bukhari Deh because they hoped the company would carry out development works and establish schools and hospitals in the area. However, they regretted, the company was neither carrying out development works nor appointing local people. They said not only this but 15 local people who had been working in the HQ3 company for 15 years had been sacked.

They claimed that when excesses by the company were brought into the notice of high officials, they said no Sindhi would be recruited in the company. They said this forced people of the area to constitute an action committee to launch a struggle for rights of Sindhis.

They warned that if excesses against Sindhis were not stopped, they would launch a protest movement against the two companies.

They demanded that the sacked workers should be reinstated and confirmed in service, priority be given in appointment to local people as per rules and one per cent of the companies’ profits according to law be spent on development of the area.

They further demanded that Rs10 million announced by JJVL chairman Z. A. Iqbal should be spent on welfare of local people in consultation with them and a survey be conducted to asses environmental impact of gas emission.

When contacted on telephone, JJVL resident engineer Ashfaq Leghari said he himself was Sindhi speaking and added that 60 per cent of employees of company contractors belonged to the Qasimabad taluka. Likewise, he said, 60 per cent of another US-based company, Hanover, were also Sindhi speaking.

He said only those people were raising hue and cry whose relatives could not be accommodated in the company.

MSF: Leaders of the Muslim Students Federation have appealed to the central leadership of the party to appoint Ghulam Rasool Unnar, adviser to the Sindh chief minister on political affairs, provincial general-secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Friday, Sindh MSF vice-president Makhdoom Ashraf, Rafiq Magsi, Majid Khaskheli, Aijazuddin Alwani and Ms Mukhtar Malik said party workers in Sindh were disappointed due to the prevailing situation in the province.

They expressed confidence in the leadership of Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, who is also the provincial president of the party.

They said Mr Unnar was a committed party leader. They claimed that he enjoyed the confidence of the party cadre and his appointment as the general-secretary could eliminate the unrest among party workers.