17 July 2004	Saturday	28 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

HYDERABAD, July 16: The leader of opposition in Sindh Assembly and PPP provincial president Nisar Khuhro has alleged that the government has resorted to pre-election rigging for securing the NA-229 Tharparkar seat for Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Speaking at a public meeting in Soomro Goth, Qasimabad area, here on Thursday night, he rejected the reports about adeal between President General Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto.

Speaking on the occasion, Mahesh Malani, the PPP candidate for the Tharparkar seat, said that the wish of the government to get Mr Aziz elected unopposed would remain an elusive dream.

Others who spoke on the occasion included MNA Syed Ameer Ali Shah Jamote, MPA Sassui Palijo, Moula Bux Chandio and Fateh Talpur. Later, answering newsmen's question as to why Makhdoom Jamiluzza man had not been nominated to contest the by-election, Mr Khuhro said that the PPP was a party of the masses, therefore it had nominated a worker. He was confident that the PPP candidate would win the by-election.

On Friday, speaking to the office-bearers of the city chapter of the People's Party Parliamentarians at the Bhurgari House here on Friday, Mr Khuhro said that parliament and democracy had been bulldozed.

He advised the supporters of the "dictator" to learn a lesson from the fate of former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali, and added that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, like his predecessor, was a prime minister only in name whereas the fountainhead of powers was the president.

He deplored that the leaders of the opposition were being killed and alleged that terrorists had been given a license to eliminate patriotic and democratic elements. The PPP leader said that in order to save the country, Benazir Bhutto would have to be allowed to return home.

He said that an undemocratic and unconstitutional government had been thrust on the country, people were dying of hunger and lawlessness had become the order of the day.

SAU: Three PhD scholars of the Sindh Agriculture University presented their annual research reports before faculty members atthe Dr A. M. Shaikh auditorium on Thursday.