20 December 2004	Monday	07 Ziqa'ad 1425

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PESHAWAR, Dec 19: The Awami National Party (ANP) has demanded that next local body elections be held on party basis. It has reiterated its opposition to the Kalabagh dam and warned the centre against taking up the 'disputed project'.

According to a press release issued here on Sunday, the working committee of the party's provincial chapter, which met here on Saturday with provincial chief Nasim Wali Khan in the chair, adopted a resolution asking Islamabad to meet the two demands.

The ANP described the local bodies' institutions vital for resolving people's problems at the grass-roots level, and said holding their elections on a party basis would promote democracy.

Through another resolution, the party rejected the Kalabagh dam project, terming plans to implement it an attempt to usurp rights of the Pukhtoons and hurt their economic interest.

"The federal government should shelve the project once and for all," advised the resolution. It maintained that the project would undermine the fertility of soil in several parts of the province, displace a large number of people from their abodes, and leave the province coping with the issue of salinity.

The Sindh province would be deprived of its due share in the country's water resources, the resolution added. It recalled that three provincial assemblies had passed unanimous resolutions against the project, so the government should abandon the plan of its execution in deference of people's verdict.

The party expressed concern over 'price hike' and 'economic instability' in the country. The party's committee believed that the government had been unable to improve law and order. It called for urgent action to improve the situation as people's lives and property were under constant threat.

Another resolution asked the federal government to ensure supply of gas from the Gurgury gas field - near Karak in the NWFP - first to the people of the area. The party demanded that the government release innocent people arrested in South Waziristan during the military operation there.