SDF appeals to people not to ‘criminalise’ protests
December 31, 2007
HYDERABAD: The Sindh Democratic Forum (SDF) on Sunday appealed to the people of Sindh to turn the death of Benazir Bhutto into the strength of the Sindhi people. An emergency meeting of the SDF was held here, chaired by its Convener Abrar Kazi.
The SDF, in a statement, appealed to the people to be careful and vigilant and not to divert their anti-establishment sentiments to some other direction, as the agencies would try hard to criminalise and divert the protest movement to some narrow roads.
The SDF said any movement should be directed to take Sindh and Pakistan towards democratic governance, rule of the people, ethnic harmony, peace and prosperity.
Sindh was devastated and the assassination of the incomparable Benazir had removed the finest daughter of Sindh from among her people, the SDF said and added that the assassination had snuffed out the last hope of 40 million Sindhis for a better deal with the federation.
The SDF said no one in Sindh mistook for one moment that the civil or military establishment, combined with the bureaucracy, was responsible for the assassination of Benazir.
Finger-pointing at Al-Qaeda, Baitullah Mehsud and Jihadis was a pathetic attempt to divert the attention from the crime of the mafia that saw its death if democracy and the rule of people returned to the country, the SDF added.
The SDF said the proof of the culpability of the establishment was provided by the interior ministry itself in its footage of the last moments of Benazir that before the blast, the hand of the terrorist holding the pistol was much too steady for a person who was about to blow himself up.
Even the filming of the footage was professional and so strategically located that it could only be the work of the people deeply involved in the crime itself, the SDF maintained.
This was clearly the work of the agencies that were the killing arms of the establishment, the SDF said.
Had the Oct 18 carnage in Karachi been investigated by international experts, the Dec 27 incident would never have happened, the SDF added.
The SDF said the enormous loss to Sindh, Pakistan and to the movement to bring democracy to the country could be addressed if a consensus national government was formed that should hold the elections and transfer power to the people.
In this hour of trial, the SDF said, when the country had reached a crossroad of either the rule of law and the Constitution or the rule of the establishment, the responsibility on the PPP was enormous.
The SDF, in a statement, appealed to the people to be careful and vigilant and not to divert their anti-establishment sentiments to some other direction, as the agencies would try hard to criminalise and divert the protest movement to some narrow roads.
The SDF said any movement should be directed to take Sindh and Pakistan towards democratic governance, rule of the people, ethnic harmony, peace and prosperity.
Sindh was devastated and the assassination of the incomparable Benazir had removed the finest daughter of Sindh from among her people, the SDF said and added that the assassination had snuffed out the last hope of 40 million Sindhis for a better deal with the federation.
The SDF said no one in Sindh mistook for one moment that the civil or military establishment, combined with the bureaucracy, was responsible for the assassination of Benazir.
Finger-pointing at Al-Qaeda, Baitullah Mehsud and Jihadis was a pathetic attempt to divert the attention from the crime of the mafia that saw its death if democracy and the rule of people returned to the country, the SDF added.
The SDF said the proof of the culpability of the establishment was provided by the interior ministry itself in its footage of the last moments of Benazir that before the blast, the hand of the terrorist holding the pistol was much too steady for a person who was about to blow himself up.
Even the filming of the footage was professional and so strategically located that it could only be the work of the people deeply involved in the crime itself, the SDF maintained.
This was clearly the work of the agencies that were the killing arms of the establishment, the SDF said.
Had the Oct 18 carnage in Karachi been investigated by international experts, the Dec 27 incident would never have happened, the SDF added.
The SDF said the enormous loss to Sindh, Pakistan and to the movement to bring democracy to the country could be addressed if a consensus national government was formed that should hold the elections and transfer power to the people.
In this hour of trial, the SDF said, when the country had reached a crossroad of either the rule of law and the Constitution or the rule of the establishment, the responsibility on the PPP was enormous.
