SNF sees no room for referendum

Published April 21, 2002

SHIKARPUR, April 20: Sindh National Front (SNF) chairman Mumtaz Ali Bhutto has said that there was no provision in the constitution for holding the referendum to elect a president, as every presidential candidate had to observe the constitutional and legal election process through the parliament.

He said the present non-democratic government was better than the so-called democratic governments of the past.

Talking to newsmen at Shaikh farm here on Friday, he accused the successive rulers for creating political crisis and damaging democratic values in the country.

He said that he wanted rule of law in the country and implementation of the 1940 Pakistan Resolution in which autonomy was assured to the provinces without any domination of the federal government.

He said that the Sindhi people were deprived of their fundamental rights and the income generated from the natural resources of the province was being consumed by the federal government to meet its requirements.

He appealed to the Sindhi people to unite for launching collective struggle to get their fundamental rights.

Answering a question, SNF chief said that he believed in clean politics and was opposed to the negative politics of agitation.

About the PPP and PML, he said that both the parties had remained in power but had done nothing for well being of the masses rather they had looted the national exchequer.

He pointed out that now both parties had split into many factions and the selfish and opportunist leaders were desperately trying to seek the support of the rulers for power.

Mr Bhutto maintained that the core issue of Sindh was the water shortage which caused danger to the lives in the province while the other problems included law and order situation, unemployment and irregularities in the administrative institutions.

He deplored that the water shortage was never witnessed in Indus River during the last 5,000 years, but now this problem had been created deliberately to destroy the agriculture and to compel the people of Sindh to remain under the domination of federal power.

He pledged to foil the conspiracies hatched against the interests of the province.

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