PPP veteran M.B. Chandio launches his autobiography.

HYDERABAD -- Spea-kers at the launch of Auraaq-e-zindagi, the autobiography of Pakis-tan Peoples Party veteran leader Maula Bux Chandio, described the author as Fakhr-i-Hyderabad (pride of Hyderabad) and said he could play the role of a bridge between different communities settled in the second largest city of the province.

They showered praise on Chandio at a simple ceremony at local press club on Sunday night by lovingly referring to him by the nicknames of 'Ustad' and 'Bhau' and said he was the first PPP leader from Hyderabad to have served the party as central information secretary and federal law minister. Jail diary was Chandio's first book and he had since written half a dozen books including Galiyan yad nagar ki, they said.

Chandio thanked his followers, friends and people of Hyderabad whom he called his 'beloved' in his opening remarks and summed up how he had tried to lay bare his life, experiences, political struggle, family life etc.

He said that he had tried to throw light on the menace of sectarianism and ethnic politics and 'cheating' in the name of spiritualism. 'Every child of Sindh knows what spirituality and spiritualism means,' he said.

Saleem Vohra, a business leader, said that society badly needed people like Chandio to address social inequalities. Chandio could be best described as Fakhr-i-Hyderabad, he added.

Prof Saleem Baig Mirza said Auraq-i-zindagi was a documentary on Hyderabad in simple language. The book was based on true events which the author had portrayed so emotionally and honestly, he said.

PPP Sindh information secretary Ajiz Dhamra said that this gathering was reflective of the harmony between different communities in Hyderabad which had been its hallmark since time immemorial except...