01 March 2005	Tuesday	19 Muharram 1426

LAHORE, Feb 28: Senate's opposition leader Mian Raza Rabbani on Monday disputed status of the parliamentary committee constituted by the president to prepare a report on the water reservoirs needed to meet future requirements of the country.

Such a committee could be set up only on a recommendation from the Council of Common Interests, a constitutional body which had not been formed so far, the PPP leader said.

At a news conference here, Mr Rabbani said new dams should be set up with consensus among all federating units. He said it was regrettable that the government was making no efforts in this regard. He said the PPP had repeatedly stated its position on Kalabagh dam.

Referring to reports that the government was trying for national reconciliation, the PPP leaders said in fact such efforts were confined to newspapers. According to him, situation for the PPP had been made more difficult since the "national reconciliation" reports had started appearing. He cited a number of instances to substantiate his claim.

Central deputy information secretary Altaf Qureshi, provincial information secretary Naveed Chaudhry and media adviser Iqbal Sialvi were also present at the news conference. Answering a question, Mr Rabbani said the PPP was not ready to become part of what he called the mess in Sindh.

He said immediately after the 2002 election the PPP had sought to form its government in Sindh being the single largest party there. But at the time the rulers used dirty tactics to dent the party.

He said now the situation had degenerated to an extent that it could not be controlled without fresh election across the country. The PPP, he said, was calling for fresh transparent election under the supervision of an independent election commission. Fresh polls like Sunday's by-election for NA-127 (Lahore) would be an exercise in futility and would breach people's confidence in the ballot, he warned.

The PPP leader was of the view that under the Constitution a permanent, not an acting, chief election commissioner should have been appointed. Mr Rabbani alleged that the rulers were highlighting non-issues through the media to deflect attention from the real problems needing immediate attention. He said the chorus of 'enlightened moderation' being sung day in and day out was also among the non-issues.