10 November 2004	Wednesday	26 Ramazan 1425

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HYDERABAD, Nov 9: Leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro has said that his party will continue to raise voice in and outside the assemblies for rights of the Badin fishermen.

He said that peaceful struggle was a weapon of the masses and warned that if President Gen Pervez Musharraf initiated efforts for construction of Kalabagh dam, he will have to face a strong reaction by the people.

He was talking to journalists at an Iftar party hosted by a local leader of the People's Party Parliamentarians, Pasha Qazi, on Monday.

Mr Khuhro said that since the Sindh government was weak, the Rangers had unleashed excesses against the fishermen of the Badin coastal area.

He said that the government, which could not have stopped construction of the Greater Thal canal despite the Sindh Assembly resolution against it and was unable to demand Sindh's due share of the National Finance Commission award, was not in a position to take any action against the excesses of the Rangers.

Criticising the karo-kari bill tabled in the National Assembly, the PPP leader said that it would prove ineffective as it allowed the heirs of the killed and the killer to compromise.

He said that the karo-kari killings could not be eliminated without abolishing the jirga system.

Answering a question about the Thal Canal, he said that according to his information, Rs35 billion had been earmarked and Rs4 billion spent on the project six months ago. He added that work on 25-km-long section of the canal had been completed but the Sindh government was maintaining a silence over it as it did not want to lose power.

Mr Khuhro said that Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim's provincial government was only a showpiece and real power lay in the hands of the "real" government which had come into power in 1999.

Referring to the bomb explosions and other acts of terrorism, he said that the federal government had failed to maintain law and order in the country.

Answering another question, he said that Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain was a British national and he could go to any country he liked.

PPP MNA Amir Ali Shah Jamote, MPA Syed Ali Nawaz Shah Rizvi, Hyderabad City Nazim Haji Moinuddin Shaikh, Latifabad Taluka Nazim Abdul Jabbar Khan, Mir Haider Ali Talpur and a large number of party activists attended the Iftar party.