25 October 2004	Monday	10 Ramazan 1425

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SUKKUR, Oct 24: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy will launch a joint movement with the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal against the president in uniform if the MMA gives an assurance that it will struggle in and outside parliament to repeal the 17th amendment to the constitution.

This was stated by People's Party Parliamentarians MNA Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah at a press conference here on Sunday.

He said the ARD did not recognize Gen Pervez Musharraf as the president even without the uniform but it was prepared to launch a joint movement because the MMA had accepted its mistake.

Mr Shah said the president had violated his oath and warned that sooner or later he would face litigation if he did not honour his words.

He said a joint meeting of the MMA and the ARD would be held in next two to three days which would be attended by ARD leaders Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Raja Zafarul Haq and Chaudhary Nisar Ali and MMA's Maulana Fazalur Rehman and Qazi Hussain Ahmad.

The meeting will review the strategy for the movement and announce the date for its launching.

The PPP leader observed that parliament had lost its validity after the passage of the 17th constitutional amendment. He claimed that neither people nor parliament recognized the amendment.

He said though parliament had lost its validity but ARD legislators had not resigned because it would have given the government a free hand to do whatever it liked.

Commenting over local politics, he said the district nazim and the naib nazim should work within their jurisdiction and avoid confrontation with the administration. He also advised the Sukkur DCO to accept the point of view of political people. However, he made it clear that he had nothing to do with the conflict between the naib nazim and the DCO.

CANAL BREACH: The Masoo Wah developed a 30-foot-wide breach near the Nazar Ali Gadani village, Ghotki, on Saturday night, inundating two villages and cotton crop over 100 acres of land.

Jaffer Gadani and Mashghool Gadani village were submerged by water. At least 200 kutcha houses also came under water and eight houses collapsed.

Sobo Gadani, Moulvi Raza Mohammad Gadani, Samandar Gadani and other affected villgers told journalists that they would suffer huge losses as their household goods would be damaged by the water.

They said they had informed irrigation officials about the breach but no team had arrived to plug the breach.

They demanded that the Sindh irrigation minister and the Ghotki district nazim should direct the officials to plug the breach immediately.