24 April 2004	Saturday	03 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

QUETTA, April 23: Awami National Party president Senator Asfandyar Wali Khan has said that his party and the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) leadership have agreed to form an alliance on a minimum common programme.

He said Baloch and Sindhi nationalist leaders would be contacted and a formal announcement would be made in the first week of May. The ANP leader criticized Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali for supporting the Kalabagh dam and called upon the prime minister to respect the resolutions of the three provincial assemblies on the issue. "Pakistan and Kalabagh dam cannot co- exist" and, therefore, Mr Jamali would have to choose one of them, he said.

Speaking at a press conference held at the Arbab House before leaving for Islamabad, Mr Khan said that he and Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti had agreed that an alliance of all nationalist and progressive forces was the need of the hour, in order to wage a collective struggle for provincial autonomy.

He said that during his talks, Nawab Bugti had agreed that nationalist and democratic political parties should gather on a common platform to fight for the rights of smaller nationalities.

Mr Khan said that he would go to Karachi on April 29 to meet Baloch leaders Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri and Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Sindhi nationalist leaders to present a formula for the alliance. He added that he had already discussed the matter with Dr Hayee Baloch.

He said that the ANP and the Jamhoori Watan Party had agreed to form the alliance, but its programme and name would be discussed and announced after finalization of talks with other political leaders.

Answering a question, Mr Khan said that his party supported neither the parity formula of the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (Ponam) nor the idea of confederation. The ANP, he added, believed in strengthening the federal parliamentary system to attain maximum autonomy for provinces.

When asked why a new alliance was needed in the presence of the ARD and Ponam, Mr Khan said that the ARD was ambiguous on the issue of autonomy and Ponam's charter demanded parity.

Therefore, he added, a new alliance was needed to protect the rights of Pukhtuns, Balochs, and Sindhis. He asserted that the real problem faced by the provinces was that the rulers never followed the principles of federal parliamentary system in letter and spirit and that created misunderstandings between Punjab and other provinces which was not good for the country.

On the issue of Kalabagh dam, the ANP chief said that the Islamabad establishment wanted to build the controversial dam to irrigate the barren land in Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar. "This will destroy the fertile land of Peshawar and Mardan."

"If the establishment is interested in a new water reservoir then Bhasha was the best place for the dam and its only minus point is that it cannot ensure irrigation of the barren land in southern Punjab." He alleged that Mr Jamali was supporting the controversial dam to please Punjabis.