HYDERABAD: Political activists, peasant rights campaigners and writers lauded the role of Qamaruz Zaman Rajpar, the PML-N Sindh vice president and former student leader, who faced jails and torture but never gave up and remained loyal for the democracy.
Rajpar daringly struggled for a long time to protect the rights of Sindh and always remained with the oppressed people with commitment. They were speaking at the event “Sitting with Qamarul Zaman Rajpar to listen to his own story of the political journey” on the occasion of his 66th birthday celebration. The programme attracted a large number of former student leaders, peasant rights activists, trade unionists and PML-N activists. The event was organized by PML-N Hyderabad district.
Shah Muhammad Shah PML-N Sindh president and a close friend of Qamar Rajpar in his concluding remarks said “in 1970 we organized a conference forcing to give status to the Sindhi language as national language”. He recalled when he met with Qamar Rajpar and since then they are friends and it seems we are a single-family.
He said, “Politics is not a business but worship and we are doing this in this spirit”. “We lived together for five decades in the struggle, in jails and political mainstream and never left the people of Sindh alone,” he said.
Qamaruz Zaman Rajpar expressed thanks to the friends who not only presented gifts of shawls and garlands but also recognized his political role in the struggle, which started in 1970 and continued to date. He claimed to have learned from nationalist leaders like Sain G. M Syed, Pakhtunkhwa leader late Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Ghaus Bux Bizanjo and many other leaders during our long association with them in the political struggle to strengthen democratic institutions.
He said we want to implement the 1940 resolution, which is the only way out to strengthen democracy. He said the PML which played a role in having a separate nation Pakistan in 1947 now came out in the streets to protect federalism. He said the PML-N leader Mian Nawaz Sharif’s only hope is to strengthen the democracy and he must be supported by the oppressed people, residing in the entire country.
Muhammad Ismail Wasan, a former student leader and close friend of Rajpar for five decades, said they are eyewitnesses to political changes in the country as well as the global scenario. He said in fact despite changing political platforms and parties, we are known for the creation of nationalist leader Sain GM Syed.
Because we had got the first political lesson from him and spent many years in jails, following his ideology, which was not acceptable to the establishment of Pakistan. He said though now we are associated with PML-N and mainstream politics, we are still loyalists to protect the natural resources of Sindh. He invited political parties to join hands for the cause, at least one-point agenda to use income generated from Sindh natural resources for the development of people living here in Sindh.
Altaf Mahesar PML-N Hyderabad district and host of the event in his welcome speech said the global situation has been changed and the politicians put climate change on priority in their discourses. He said the USA, Russia, Germany and other developed nations leaders prefer to talk about environmental change. Therefore, he advised the Pakistan leadership to think about it, linking it to human health, agriculture and economy.
Mir Amanullah Talpur, a grower and political activist recalled the blissful days of the past, and said gone were the days when they struggled for the cause to protect the rights and resources of Sindh and dreamed to see the people put involved in mainstream development.
Akbar Soomro, a writer, said Qamar Rajpar was among a large number of students who opposed the 1973 constitution on the basis of missing the point of provincial autonomy and spent several years in jail. Sindhaini Tehreek leader Nazeer Qureshi, peasant leader Mithoo Maheri, senior journalist Hafeez Abid also spoke on the occasion. A young singer Waqar Mallah and Faqeer Qadir Bux also performed songs on the occasion.