April 1, 2002	Monday	Muharram 17, 1423

HYDERABAD, March 31: The National Workers’ Party (NWP) at an agricultural conference held at the Basant Hall on Sunday afternoon squarely held Punjab responsible for the theft of water and rejected the proposed presidential referendum as “illegal and unconstitutional”.

The conference demanded that real agricultural reforms should be brought about in the country and Jagirdars and Waderas be excluded from power-sharing.

Addressing the conference, chief of the NWP, Abid Hussain Manto said that his party was not interested in achieving power through the back door but it was striving to bring into power people-friendly leaders.

He said that those elements who wanted to become prime ministers with the help of the army and presidents with the blessings of American President George Bush were not sincere with the people and their only interest was to reach the corridors of power somehow.

He said that some people had remained in power on more than one occasion but they had betrayed the people.

He said the people continue to suffer due to unemployment and poor economic conditions, and added that nothing had changed.

Mr Manto said that the armed forces had remained in power more than anyone else.

He alleged that in the garb of development, Gen Ayub Khan had plundered the national wealth whereas the members of the Shoora in Gen Ziaul Haq’s government were responsible for introducing narcotics and Kalashnikov culture in the country.

He said Z.A. Bhutto too had helped the Jagirdars, Choudhris and Nawabs to save his party and perpetuate himself in power, and added that the result was that the agricultural reforms remained ineffective and instead of benefiting the poor Haris and the small growers helped the Jagirdars and big growers.

He branded the PPP as “the Modern Muslim League”.

He said that both Benazir and Nawaz Sharif had trampled over the rights of the masses.

He said Gen Pervez Musharraf had never invited any labour leader or labour union for talks.

Among the others who addressed the conference were Baji Naseem, Ms Qaneez Fatima, and Javed Akhtar.

RESOLUTIONS: The conference adopted several resolutions demanding the abolition of Jagardari and Zamindari system through agricultural reforms, strict implementation of the distribution of lands in accordance with the Ayub Khan reforms, ejection of Waderas from the lands of Haris given during the regime of Nawaz Sharif, maximum representation of the middle class in the National Assembly from the rural areas, and decrease in the prices of medicines.

It demanded concessions in agriculture tax, subsidy on crops, and fixation of land holding limit of 50 acres in canal-irrigated areas and 100 acres in rain-fed areas, and distribution of state land among the Haris.

The conference demanded that the Greater Thal Canal and Kalabagh Dam projects should be shelved, the water issue should be resolved with the consensus