DADU, Feb 13: The People’s Party Parliamentarians President Makhdoom Amin Fahim demanded on Tuesday suspension of local bodies governments three months before general elections arguing that the local governments would affect the elections process.

Talking to journalists after offering condolences to the cousins of Pir Mazharul Haq Pir, Pir Najeeb, Pir Yousuf and Pir Kaleemullah on the death of their uncle Pir Abdul Hameed at Pir Jo Goth Mr Fahim said that the government machinery was openly used in the by-elections in Kotri and Karachi and PPP MNAs were attacked, which threw into doubt the election commission’s impartiality.

He demanded that an independent election commission should be constituted and a caretaker government should be put in place with national consensus to hold general elections in a transparent manner.

He denied the party had struck up a deal with the government and claimed that Ms Bhutto would return to the country to participate in the polls after the announcement of elections schedule.

He said that all the opposition parties would have to sit together and decide whether they should participate in elections or not. People should play their role against rigging in general elections otherwise they would have to regret, he said.

Mr Fahim who is also chairman of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy said that the Indian government was not following the water accord on Baglihar Dam and slammed the government for not bringing the dams’ issue in the parliament. The issue should be discussed in the parliament, he said.

He regretted that the government was terminating the jobs of people who were recruited during PPP governments and assured that the party would reinstate all the fired employees once it came to power and would also create more job opportunities.

The old Sindhi villages were being destroyed under a planed conspiracy, he said and expressed fear that the Sindhis’ homes in interior Sindh might also be demolished. The one man show had led to worsening law and order situation in the country where women were not safe even within the walls of their homes, he said.

poet passes away: A local poet and writer Allah Nawaz Rukanai died here late on Monday night due to cardiac arrest. He was aged 77 years.

Late Rukanai has left behind two sons, three draughters and a wife to mourn his death.

He was buried at Shakir Pir graveyard near Dadu on Tuesday evening in the presence of hundreds of people including poets and writers from across the province.