KARACHI, Dec 18: The Pakistan People’s Party has said that its stand on the issue of Kalabagh dam is well-known and firm, and termed the criticism by Muttahida Qaumi Movement in this regard ‘a calculated move’ undertaken on instructions of Gen Musharraf to distort facts for subverting the will of the people of Sindh.

In a statement issued on Sunday, PPP spokesman Waqar Mehdi alleged that the MQM was making noises to divert public attention from its support to Gen Musharraf on the issue.

He claimed that the MQM had assured Gen Musharraf of its full support during his last visit to Karachi. He described the MQM’s public pronouncements against the KBD as ‘nothing more than hollow cries of agent provocateur’. He argued that if the MQM was really against the anti-Sindh project, why it was sitting in the government.

The spokesman denied any differences in the stand of the party’s Sindh and Punjab chapters. The PPP, he said, was stressing the need for a consensus on controversial issues. He said if rulers pushed the project ahead despite rejection by three provinces, they would be threatening the integrity of the country.

He said that PPP’s clear stand was demonstrated by its chairperson Ms Benazir Bhutto when she had led a huge sit-in at Kammoo Shaheed. Now the December 22 rally would reaffirm that stand, he added.

The spokesman alleged that the MQM had, on the contrary, taken a U-turn on the issue. In this context, he referred to Dr Farooq Sattar’s reported statement that “despite Musharraf’s remarks favouring the KBD, the MQM would not part ways with the government.”