‘Religious parties filling in leftist and nationalists’ shoes’

Karachi

Sindh has been facing poor governance, a law and order crisis and a lack of infrastructure, and it is widening the gap between the ruling Pakistan People’s Party and the people, prominent journalist and political activist Sohail Sangi said on Saturday.

“The Left and Sindhi nationalist parties seem to be waiting for a miracle that will change the situation and as a result, religious parties are filling the vacuum,” he added.

Sangi was delivering a lecture on “Sindh post-MRD Movement: challenges in politics and thoughts” – the 14th Hamza Alvi Distinguished Lecture, organised by the Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences.

Dr Syed Jaffar Ahmed, the head of the Pakistan Study Centre at the University of Karachi, introduced Sangi while prominent journalist Mazhar Abbas presided over the event.

Before entering the field of journalism, Sangi played a key role in Sindh’s politics on the platform of the Communist Party of Pakistan between 1969 and 1980 and was arrested in the prominent “Jam Saqi case” along with other leftist leaders including Saqi, Professor Jamal Naqvi and Badar Abro.