January 10, 2006	Tuesday	Zilhaj 9, 1426

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HYDERABAD, Jan 9: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain claimed on Monday night that President Gen Pervez Musharraf had assured him that the Kalabagh dam would not be built and there would be no military operation in Balochistan.

He, however, declared that if credible reports and evidence were received about excesses in Balochistan, the party’s coordination committee would take a decision without serving any notice or ultimatum because the MQM did not believe in leaving people in the lurch.

He was speaking to party workers in Hyderabad, Karachi and other cities and towns of interior Sindh on telephone from London to congratulate people on what he said his party’s success in resolving the 40-year-old Kalabagh issue.

Referring to his telephonic conversation with President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Sunday following MQM’s ultimatum to quit the government if the army operation in Balochistan was not stopped by Jan 13, Mr Hussain said that he had presented his point of view on the longstanding problem and eventually succeeded in getting an assurance from the president that the Kalabagh dam would not be built. “The president assured me that the Kalabagh dam would not be constructed,” he said.

He described the president’s assurance as the beginning of restitution of the rights of Sindh that had been usurped over the years.

About Balochistan, he said, the president had told him that rockets were being fired and convoys were being attacked and he advised the president that action should be taken only against elements which were violating the law and that innocent people should not be targeted. He claimed to have received a pledge from the president in this regard.

“The president assured me that no military operation would be launched in Balochistan and investigations will be conducted if any innocent Balochi is targeted and perpetrators of such excesses would be punished”.

Mr Hussain said that the president also assured him that he would direct the parliamentary committee on Balochistan to expedite its work and submit its report and that he would implement it gradually to ensure devolution of powers from centre to provinces.

He also said that the president had promised to meet soon a five-member delegation of the MQM to discuss the issues of Sindh.