960415

Hari seminar

'Wadera is sitting in

minds of leaders claiming

to represent middle class'

HAFEEZ SHAIKH

HYDERABAD: The President Awami Tahreek and chief of Sindhi Ittehad, Rasool Bux Paleejo has said that the other countries of Asia like China, Japan, Indonesia and even Malaysia had progressed and improved the living conditions of people for the simple reason that they had uprooted feudalism in their respective countries.

He said Pakistan was the only country where the curse of Wadera Shahi had persisted and was gaining strength with the passage of time.

He was delivering his presidential address at the Hari seminar on the topic of "problems of Sindhi peasantry and their solution', organised by the Sindhi Hari Tahreek at Hyderabad Press Club here on Monday.

He said Jagirdari system in Pakistan was the name of a mental attitude, a culture and a way of thinking and added that a Wadera was sitting in the mind and the heart of every leader who claimed to represent the middle class.

He claimed that except for "Awami Tahreek", which had refused to accept Wadera Shahi, all other individuals and parties had consciously or unwittingly accepted the supremacy of the feudal lords.

He lashed out at Altaf Hussain, Nawaz Sharif and Ajmal Khattak and added that in a way they too were the exponents of feudalism and fascism and added that they were no different from the Sindhi Waderas.

He lashed out at some of the newspapers which were not projecting the cause of Sindh and the point of view of Sindhi people and added that the Sindhi people will be quite justified in boycotting such newspapers.

Others who addressed the seminar included Vishnu Mal, Aziz Talpur, Gul Hassan Keerano, Sindhi Shagird Tahreek leader Hussain Jarwar, Mazdooor Tahreek leader, Arif Junejo, Sindhiani Tahreek leader Ms. Nazeer Qureshi, and Sindhi Girls Student Organisation President, Fiza Qureshi.

The Hari seminar adopted several resolutions condemning the absence of basic human facilities for 85 percent population living in the interior of Sindh.

- condemning that all the Waderas who were involved in dacoities, robberies, kidnappings and maintaining private jails should be arrested, punished and their properties confiscated.

- demanding a crash programme for the development of interior Sindh.

- demanding the enactment of a separate Hari law and the establishment of Hari courts headed by district and sessions judge.

- taking strong exception to the holding of talks with terrorists who were responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent people and who were trying to create a separate province and were disloyal to Sindh and Pakistan.

- demanding the custom of "Karo Kari" and other inhuman excesses against the fair sex and demanded legislation against "Karo Kari".

- offer full support to the Sindhiani Tehreek (women movement) to observe the year 1996 as the year of struggle against the black custom of "Karo Kari".

- demanding that the peasants should be treated as workers as defined under the labour laws and provided all facilities admissible to the industrial workers.

- demanding the introduction of further land reforms to eliminate the Jagirdari system, increase in the numerical strength of national and provincial assemblies and allocation of special seats for the representatives of Haris and workers.

- endorsing the new charter of demands presented by the nationalist leaders for the rights of Sindhi nation on April 12.