HYDERABAD, May 20: The secretary-general of the Muttehida Majlis-i-Amal, Sindh, Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro, has criticized President Gen Pervez Musharraf's proposal to appoint a committee to review the blasphemy law.

He was speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Thursday. The MMA leader said that if rulers tried to tamper with the law then ulema of all schools of thought would resist such a move with full force.

He opposed the proposed amendments in the Hudood Ordinance and said that if anyone tried to change the Quranic injunctions, the consequences would be disastrous. He also condemned the deletion of Quranic verses from textbooks.

He alleged that the modus operandi adopted by the Sindh governor in defeating MMA's candidates in by-polls had no parallel in the election history of the country.

He said that MQM ministers and advisers in connivance with police and Rangers hijacked the polling staff, held MNAs polling agents hostages at gunpoint and stuffed ballot boxes with bogus votes.

He said that vote rigging carried out by the MQM was known to all and sundry. He demanded that the Sindh governor should be dismissed, an FIR should be registered against home affairs adviser, Aftab Shaikh, and murderers of innocent people on May 12.

He demanded that election should be declared null and void and re-elections should be held under the direct supervision of the army. Dr Soomro expressed concern over non-supply of drinking water to the people of Hyderabad, Thatta and Badin district.

He pointed out that thousands of people had fallen ill due to the consumption of contaminated water and demanded that the current alarming situation should be handled on war footings.

He demanded that Kalabagh dam and Thal canal projects should be abandoned forever and resolutions of Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan assemblies in this context should be respected.

The MMA leader demanded that water should be supplied to all provinces according to previous agreements. He said that agents of America were responsible for the massacre of innocent people in Quetta and Haideri mosque and called upon the government to expose and arrest the perpetrators of these ghastly murders.

He demanded that the government should raise its voice at the international level against inhuman atrocities unleashed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Kosovo, Kashmir, Chechnya and Bosnia.

Condemning the rampant lawlessness in Sindh including murders and kidnappings for ransom and price hike, hunger and unemployment, Dr Soomro called upon the government to either arrest the deteriorating conditions or surrender power voluntarily.

He said that in Sindh the chief minister was just a showpiece while all powers were enjoyed by the Sindh governor. He said that lawlessness in Sindh was engineered by vested interests to enable General Pervez Musharraf to dissolve assemblies and impose martial law.

He announced that the MMA would observe a protest day at all district headquarters of Sindh on Friday (today) against the massacre of innocent people in Karachi on May 12.