QAT marchers to arrive in Karachi on 8th

The participants of the Qaumi Awami Tehreek’s 32-day march, which started on February 5 led by its president Ayaz Latif Palejo, will reach Karachi on March 8 and stage a rally outside Karachi Press Club for the protection of Sindh’s rights as enshrined under the Constitution.

“The caravans of QAT have reached Ghakkar,” Noor Ahmed Kathiar, the spokesperson for the party, told The News.

The march that began on February 5 swelled in strength and size after passing through different cities of Sindh.

The march started from Islamkot, Tharparkar and its participants covered hundreds of kilometres of Mithi, Mirpurkhas, Tando Allayhar, Hyderabad districts. They will reach Karachi on March 8.

Thousands of men, women and children marched continuously for over a month chanting slogans against bad governance, corruption, terrorism, extremism, nepotism, feudal system and its outdated traditions of jirga and karo-kari, and the Gorrano Dam where poisonous water from a coalmining project would be released.

The marchers demanded for rule of law and the basic facilities of education, healthcare and employment.

Palejo while speaking to the participants, said Sindh was rich in natural resources but the flawed policies of the corrupt people ruling the province had caused its devastation

The QAT chief alleged that the Sindh government was still busy plundering the exchequer while the people of Tharparkar were dying of starvation because of the drought in the district.

He alleged that corrupt elements within the Sindh government had not only misappropriated billions of rupees but also pushed the province into lawlessness and unemployment.

A list of demands prepared by the QAT for the government includes that in the light of the 1940 Pakistan Resolution, the country was a federation but for over 60 years, River provinces were being discriminated against.

The marchers demand that this inequality must come to an end and all provinces must be treated as equal in realms of power and development projects.

Smaller provinces’ consent should also be taken for the projects of the federal government and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

They demanded that the construction of the Gorrano Dam and all those schemes and projects that deprived the people of Tharparkar of their homes and livelihood must be reviewed.

All languages spoken in Pakistan including Sindhi should be declared national languages.

Corruption and misappropriation of funds for the development of cities and construction of roads, bridges and canals must be stopped

The construction of any dam or canal on Indus River by the federal government too should be stopped

The marchers also demanded that the provincial government departments should stop selling jobs. Patronising of corruption, nepotism, terrorism and religious extremism must also be stopped.