LARKANA: Sindh Tar­aqqi-pasand Party chairman Dr Qadir Magsi has called Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Mir Murtaza Bhutto icons of democracy, who laid down their lives for peoples’ rights, and said on the contrary Asif Ali Zardari is least concerned about the issues of the downtrodden.

He urged people to reject ‘Zardari Raj’ and ‘Jagirdari Raj’ and lend support to his party for building a new Sindh.

The country could not be handed over ‘political jugglers’ who had no idea of the struggle for democracy, said Dr Magsi at a public meeting near Jinnahbagh here on Friday.

He recalled that when Sindh was waging a consistent struggle in the Move­ment for the Restoration of Democracy in 1983 and 1986, Hakim Ali Zardari and his son Asif Ali Zardari were contesting local government election being held by Gen Zia’s regime though they faced humiliating defeat, mustering only 19 votes.

He said the people possessing a feudal mindset would never stand by the oppressed and the downtrodden hence the STP had launched a revolutionary struggle to end disparity and inequality in society.

He said that Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Mus­lim League-Nawaz, Pir Pagara and others had forfeited their right to rule Sindh.

Dr Magsi said pointing towards participants in the gathering: “I believe ‘change’ is within you. You will have to come out of slumber and wage a struggle for your rights. It is not our fate to continue to suffer silently without raising our voice, for example, over schools and health facilities turned into cattle pens and autaqs and other burning issues.”

He said the STP followed progressive ideology and modern concept of nationalism. Sindh had always played a pivotal role in the struggle for democracy and made great sacrifices. Sindhis, therefore, had an inalienable right to rule their land, he said.

Dr Magsi said that people of Larkana were heirs of 50000-year-old Moenjodaro civilisation that had been a source of inspiration for the entire world but unfortunately today they were made to live in squalid conditions, drink highly contaminated water and face the specter of HIV/AIDS in this district.

He said that recently a jobless youth committed self-immolation after he failed to get work.

His death was a slap on the face of the corrupt and unjust system, he said, adding the government had even failed to provide medicines for hepatitis which was widespread in Larkana.

“A man becomes an ‘agent’ when he starts giving preference to his personal interests. People will have no trouble recognising such faces,” he said.

He said the STP’s political struggle was aimed at building a secular and democratic society, eradicating extremism and terrorism and ensuring equal rights for people.

About the incident of sexual assault and brutal murder of seven-year-old Zainab in Kasur, Dr Magsi regretted the tragic incident was caused by a gradual degradation of moral values in society.

Earlier, STP leaders Jam Abdul Fattah Samejo, Abdul Hameed Memon, Gulzar Soomro and others also spoke at the gathering.

DADU: Dr Magsi and Pervaiz Ahmed Chandio, son of slain Mukhtiar Chandio, led a rally in Mehar town on Friday in protest against police failure to arrest main suspects in the triple murder case of Karamullah Chandio, chairman of Baladai union council, his sons Mukhtiar and district council member Qabil Ahmed Chandio on Jan 17.

Speaking to the protesters, Dr Magsi demanded immediate arrest of all suspects nominated in the FIR. Ten days had passed to the incident but police were not ready to arrest the suspects.

Pervaiz Ahmed said that they had provided all evidence against the suspects to police still they were using delaying tactics to avoid arresting them. Police were in fact protecting the main suspect, he said.

He said that he and his family members were receiving threats from the suspects and their family. People knew his grandfather Karamullah, father Mukhtiar, and uncle Qabil as gentlemen and social activists. The suspects be arrested immediately, he said.

Mr Chandio, who was complainant in the case, expressed no confidence in the police investigation team led by Hyderabad SSP Syed Pir Mohammad Shah and alleged that the influential suspects used their political clout to get investigation of the case transferred from Dadu to Hyder­abad because SSP Pir Moh­am­mad was extending them favours. Armed with automatic weapons the suspects were freely moving in the area under police security, he said.

He demanded formation of a joint investigation team to probe the murders and appealed to Chief Justices of Pakistan and Sindh to take notice of the triple murder case and urged members of civil society to help the bereaved family get justice.

Meanwhile, another rally was taken out by students of several colleges and schools in Dadu on Friday to voice protest against the triple murder and police failure to arrest the suspects.

Carrying portraits of victims and banners inscribed with slogans “we want justice” students marched on different roads of the city and demanded immediate arrest of the suspects.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2018