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.

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