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Call to initiate debate on Sindh’s socio-political scenario to avoid conflict
KARACHI: A group of concerned citizens, belonging to different civil society organisations and other walks of life have expressed deep concern at the increasing polarisation in Sindh along ethnic lines and demands for a separate province for Urdu-speaking population.The group that met at the Karachi office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has called upon all the actors, currently embroiled in the war of words, to exercise restraint and refrain from using derogatory language against each other and stop the blame game.
Arif Hassan of Urban Resources Center (URC), Karamat Ali, Executive Director Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), Anis Haroon of Women Action Forum, Munir Memon of Forum for Secular Pakistan Ms. Malika Khan of Aurat Foundation, Ms. Sheema Kermani of Tahrik-e-Niswan, Asad Iqbal Butt of HRCP, Punhal Sario of Sindh Hari Porhiat Council, Farhat Parveen of NOW Communities, senior journalists Babar Ayaz, columnist and writer Muqtida Mansoor, Zulfiqar Shah of PILER, Saeed Baloch of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Ms. Naghma Shaikh of Network for Women Rights, senior trade union leader Habibuddin Junaidi and Shaukat Ali, Zahid Farooque of URC, Sajida Channa and others took part in the discussion to avert the possibility of conflicts within the people living in Sindh province.
The meeting passed a unanimous resolution, in which they pointed out: “what is urgently needed is an informed debate and a thorough analysis of the political, economic and social factors that have led to the present state of resentment and grievances by the warring factions living together in Sindh since the last seven decades.”
They reached a point that a broader perspective is vital to understand that the root causes of ethnic-linguistic division include unequal distribution of economic resources among and within the provinces, weaker state and bad governance in the institutions and anti-poor development planning excluding the common citizenry and benefitting the political elite.
The group reiterated that the conflict, if escalated further, would gravely hurt the interests of common people.
The group of conscious citizens invited al the stakeholders including leading political parties representatives in Sindh, civil society activists, academics, urban planners and legal experts to hold discussions, build consensus and find a solution to the issue acceptable to all, safeguarding rights of all sections/groups of Sindh province. The group announced to this effect plan of a conference to be held shortly on the future of Sindh.
The participants also discussed the plan for celebrations of Nobel Peace Prize for Malala Yousufzai in Karachi in December this year, just before the award-giving ceremony in Norway. Karamat Ali of PILER briefed the participants about the availability of Malala in the early dates of December 2014 and also proposed to hold event at a larger place to invite various walks of life. Renowned artist Sheema Kermani suggested interlinking the programme with cultural presentation and also proposed to highlight achievement of Pakistani women on the event.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk