KARACHI, Aug 19: Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim has said that he would strongly advise Mr Shaukat Aziz, who has won both the National Assembly seats he contested in Wednesday's by-elections, to retain the Tharparkar seat instead of that of Attock.

Dr Arbab was commenting on reported statement attributed to Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat that Mr Aziz would retain the Attock seat. Addressing a crowded press conference at the CM's House on Thursday night soon after his return from Thar, the chief minister said that he did not know whether the PML chief had issued such a statement.

However, he added, he wished that Mr Aziz retained the seat of Tharparkar not only because it was a backward area, but also for the reason that no outsider could even think of a landslide victory, attained by Shaukat Aziz, against his rival in this constituency.

The constituency, NA-229 Tharparkar-I, is the ancestral stronghold of the Arbab family. The seat was vacated for Mr Aziz by Arbab Zakaullah, a cousin of Dr Arbab Rahim. "In view of the opposition's favourite political manoeuvring - playing 'Sindh card' - it has become all the more necessary for the prime minister-in-waiting to retain the Sindh seat."

Dismissing all allegations of irregularities and rigging in the by-election for NA-229, the chief minister said it was exceptionally free, fair, transparent and peaceful. Referring to the PPP's claim of harassment and intimidation, Dr Arbab argued that had there been such a treatment to the PPP voters or any foul play on the part of the PML, the PPP candidate and polling agents would definitely have reacted accordingly.

On the contrary, he added, PPP's polling agents at various polling stations had expressed their satisfaction over the arrangements made by the election commission. He attributed the unprecedented turnout to the personality of Shaukat Aziz and policies of President Musharraf, saying that people of Thar came out with an enthusiastic support to the President's policies which had brought about a remarkable improvement through massive development in their otherwise neglected area.

Besides, he said, minority groups and many small communities supported the PML candidate. For the opposition, the situation was visibly painful as the PPP leadership could not find even a sufficient number of local workers to be deputed as polling agents. He claimed that the job had to be handled by the party's legislators themselves.

While praising people of Thar and all political quarters for their cooperation in the peaceful holding of the by-election, the chief minister excluded opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Khuhro and a PPP legislator, Sassui Palejo, both of whom had been detained briefly for violating Section-144 on Tuesday.

Dr Arbab rejected PPP Senator Mr Raza Rabbani's threat of bringing out a 'white paper', and rebutted that he had nothing with him to show to masses as white paper. This is a hollow slogan like one often raised by the late Z. A. Bhutto with reference to the so-called 'secrets of Tashkent, he remarked.

PML Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani, who was in-charge of the party's election cell in Tharparkar, told newsmen that political parties should now change the their culture of 'opposition for opposition' and demonstrate sportsman spirit by conceding defeat if suffered. He described Mr Aziz's victory in the election as 'success of democracy'.