17 January 2005	Monday	06 Zilhaj 1425

HYDERABAD, Jan 16: The leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, has opposed military operation in Balochistan.

He was speaking at a luncheon hosted by Hyderabad city People's Party Parliamentarians coordination secretary Pasha Qazi for journalists here on Sunday.

Mr Khuhro said history was witness to the fact that such adventures never led to amicable solutions of problems. He referred to the East Pakistan debacle where the majority had expressed lack of confidence in the rulers and people had got disenchanted with the government.

He said the situation in Balochistan was alarming and there was unrest even among coalition parties of the government over the issue. He said it was clear that the government was working without any coordination and the allies had also made their mind clear.

He observed that it was a dictatorial way of thinking where repressive measures were considered the only solution to problems, adding that people had witnessed the dismemberment of the country in one such exercise.

The PPP leader further said if the government believed in collective wisdom, it would not violate the sanctity of the provincial assembly. He maintained that there was unrest in Sindh as well over construction of disputed greater Thal canal and Kalabagh dam projects and the National Finance Commission award.

He said the Sindh government must consult opposition parties before taking up the case of the NFC award with the Centre. Mr Khuhro said in a unanimous resolution the opposition and treasury benches had demanded resource distribution on the basis of income generation by each province and not on the basis of population alone. However, he added, the opposition did not know what type of case had been prepared by the Sindh government. He said after passing the resolution, Muttahida Qaumi Movement ministers had remained silent which had proved their disloyalty with the resolution.

The resignation by the private statutory member from Sindh in the NFC, Abdul Karim Lodhi, had also complicated the situation, he added. He said the NFC issue could not be solved at one or two meetings and it was a continuous process after which the NFC award was announced.

The PPP leader proposed that if the Centre found it hard to settle the matter on its own terms, it should entrust recovery of sales tax to the provinces as was done in other countries. It would be an impetus for the provinces' economies, he observed.

He recalled that before the One Unit, provinces used to recover sales tax and if this right was given to the provinces again, the matter could be resolved amicably. He said the PPP in its second tenure had proposed resource distribution on the basis of income generation.