SHIKARPUR, March 28: The president of the People’s Party Parliamentarians, Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, has said that the PPP is a major political party of the country with roots in the masses, and is quite capable of taking the country out of the current crises.

He was speaking to party leaders from Larkana, Shikarpur and Jacobabad districts during a meeting of party office-bearers, MNAs, MPAs and ticket holders held in Garhi Yasin on Sunday. The meeting was called to make arrangements to observe the death anniversary of Z.A. Bhutto and finalize the welcoming programme of former senator Asif Ali Zardari, who is likely to arrive in Lahore on April 16.

Thanking President Gen Pervez Musharraf for conceding that the PPP was a democratic party, Mr Shah claimed that PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto would be the next prime minister.

MPA Ayaz Soomro, MNA Anwar Bhutto, MNA Khalid Iqbal, MNA Shahid Bhutto, MNA Ramesh Lal, Tauqeer Fatima Bhutto, Zulqarnain Abro, Ghulam Mujtaba Isran, Aftab Bhutto and others attended the meeting.

JSM CHAIRMAN: Chairman of the Jeay Sindh Mahaz (Zain), has criticized the ‘anti-Sindh’ policies of the rulers, and said that the people of Sindh have been deprived of basic rights and are braving economic difficulties.

Talking to journalists here on Sunday evening, Syed Zain Shah denounced the Prime Minister’s decision of issuing national identity cards to post-1974 immigrants, who according to him were not legitimate citizens of Pakistan.

He said that the 1973 Constitution had harmed the people of smaller provinces, who could not avail the basic rights ensured in the Pakistan Resolution of 1940.

He demanded that provincial autonomy should be granted to enable the people to resolve their economic and other problems by utilizing the natural resources of their respective provinces.

MURDER: A teenaged girl, Bakhsul, 18, of Aliabad village was shot dead by her relative, Dil Noon, late on Saturday.

The motive was said to be her refusal to Murad’s marriage proposal.