MQM urges end to plunder of resources
The Dawn
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 19: The "Sindh Solidarity Convention" held at Nishtar
Park on Friday adopted the following resolutions, which were moved by deputy
chief of MQM Coordination Committee, Aftab Ahmad:
1) A new Constitution shall be framed in accordance with the spirit of the
Lahore Resolution of 1940 on the principle of parity to give equal
representation to all provinces in all federal institutions, including the armed
forces. Whereas, the Parliament shall have the supremacy and provinces shall
have full autonomous status, the Federation shall keep three subjects - Defence,
Foreign Affairs and Currency - and the rest of the powers be vested in the
provincial legislatures and governments.
Religious minorities and women shall have equal rights and all types of
discrimination and discriminatory policies against them shall cease to exist.
The local government system shall be reconstituted in accordance with the
aspirations and interests of the people and this should be made a part of the
constitution.
2) Plundering of resources including minerals, wealth and income of the minority
provinces, including Sindh, shall stop forthwith and equitable share be granted
to them under the National Financial Commission Award (NFC).
3) The water crisis of Sindh shall be resolved forthwith. The people of Sindh
have rejected the "Thal Canal" and "Kalabagh Dam" projects.
Therefore, no such project shall be undertaken without the consensus of all the
provinces.
4) The process of retrenchment of the people of Sindh and Pakistan, on the
pretext of downsizing, rightsizing, privatization and others, shall stop and the
retrenched employees should be reinstated forthwith. Similarly, those whose
hard-earned money has been squandered by the finance companies in Sindh shall be
compensated in the same manner as the victims of the cooperatives scandal in the
province of Punjab.
5) The people of Sindh not only condemn terrorism, sectarianism and religious
fanaticism but also support all such measures that have been taken to combat
this menace.
6) An independent judicial Commission shall be instituted to investigate the
cases of extra-judicial executions in Sindh, actions be taken against the
perpetrators in accordance with the recommendations of the independent judicial
Commission.
7) All the leaders and workers of the MQM and JSQM (Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz),
including Chairman JSQM Mr Basheer Khan Qureshi, arrested arbitrarily, should be
released forthwith.