September 7, 2003	Sunday	Rajab 9, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 6: PPP’s deputy secretary-general Mian Raza Rabbani has said that the federal government is violating the Constitution by ignoring resolutions unanimously passed by the NWFP and Sindh assemblies on the Kalabagh dam.

“It is the duty of the government of Sindh under the Constitution to implement the resolution passed by the provincial assembly,” he said.

He said in a statement on Friday that the Centre and the government of Sindh were trying to circumvent the resolution on the Thal canal passed on February 28 by the provincial assembly.

Mr Rabbani said the change in the government of Sindh’s stance was the result of General Musharraf‘s recent tour of Sindh where he defended the two projects.

He said the PPP opposed the Thal canal on the basis of principles and in the greater interest of the federation, that was why the leader of the opposition in Punjab and president PPP Punjab Qasim Zia had also opposed the project on the floor of the Punjab Assembly.

“This is not a project to benefit the people of Punjab. It is an irrigation-oriented project, which will divert the waters of the Indus and adversely affect the rights of Sindh,” Mr Rabbani observed.

“The party is not against generating electricity or building storages to contain floods, but under this pretext, when irrigation canals are made, the rights of other provinces are usurped.

“The PPP is a federal party and believes that the federation can grow only when all units feel a sense of participation in the affairs of the federation and their economic and political rights are protected by the federation,” he added.