HYDERABAD, July 4: The Sindhi Association of North America (Sana) has joined the chorus of complaint about exclusion of a large number of people from the new voters’ lists and urged the government to include all the missing voters before the general elections.

The association demanded through one of resolutions passed at its June 29-July 1 annual convention in Orlando, USA, the copies of which were emailed to Dawn that the present federal and provincial government should resign and an impartial caretaker government should be appointed to hold free and fair elections under the supervision of an independent election commission.

The convention expressed solidarity with the movement for the independence of judiciary and democracy and demanded that the curbs on judiciary and media should be lifted and the CJP should be reinstated.

It sympathised with the rain and cyclone victims of Sindh and Balochistan and urged the government to put an end to army operation in Balochistan ans stop human rights violations.

The gathering demanded immediate release of political workers in Sindh and Balochistan and opposed construction of large dams on the River Indus. The government should shelve all the mega water projects and take steps to ensure Sindh got fair share of water.

It accused the Muttahida Qaumi Movement of orchestrating killings in Karachi on May 12 and said that all evidence pointed to the MQM which carried out its plan with the help of government in order to dampen the movement for the independence of judiciary.The convention demanded that the country should be purged of illegal arms and ammunition and all the parties and groups involved in terrorist acts in Karachi and other parts of the country should be banned.

It noted that Sindh was being ruled by central government through puppet regimes and a reign of lawlessness had been let loose on the real owners of the land by the people who had grabbed power through stolen elections and strong arm tactics.

The association pointed out that there was an overwhelming desire among smaller provinces for autonomy and sovereignty as enshrined in the 1940 Resolution, the denial of which had led to separatist and nationalist movements.

It demanded that except for defence, currency and foreign affairs, all the other subjects should be transferred to the provinces and regretted that people from Pakistan's four provinces lacked adequate representation in Pakistan's military and it was widely acknowledged that almost 80 per cent of all military men and women belonged to the Punjab.

It observed that the army generals had been direct rulers of Pakistan for most of the country’s life and the army enjoyed considerable influence in the decision-making process. The institution should be rebuilt as a nationally oriented, ethnically balanced and morally disciplined force which pledged to uphold civilian democratic rule, the convention stressed.

It said that the studies carried out by local and international consultants had indicated that rural areas of Sindh and Balochistan suffered highest rates of poverty and said that the federal government was slow in developing rich resources of Sindh to generate employment opportunities in the province’s rural areas.

About royalty of oil and gas, the convention pointed out that international standards on rate of royalty for provinces in other countries were much higher than Pakistan. The province of Alberta in Canada received 30.2 per cent in royalty whereas the Pakistani provinces received only 12.5 per cent.

The association urged the government to raise the rate of oil and gas royalty to the provinces to 30 per cent.

Sindhi language, which was one of the oldest languages of subcontinent was the only native language officially taught by the British in the schools of Sindh but the teaching and promotion of Sindhi had taken a backseat due to ethnic politics, it said.