June 15, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1428

KHAIRPUR, June 14: President of the Sindh chapter of People’s Party Parliamentarians, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, said on Thursday that the inclusion of Kalabagh Dam in the federal budget was a desperate attempt on part of the government to divert people's attention from real problems afflicting them and the country.

Mr Shah said at a workers’ convention that allocation of funds for Kalabagh Dam was an insult to the three elected provincial assemblies that had passed anti-dam resolutions.

He threw into doubt the credibility of voter-lists displayed in the district and said that according to voter-lists for 2002 general elections, there were more than 900,000 voters while the new voter-lists showed an enrolment of about 560,000 voters only despite the fact that the population in the district had increased from 1.5 million to 1.6 million.

He blamed inefficiency of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) in the preparation of computerised national identity cards for lacunas in voter-lists. People in rural areas faced so much difficulties that they decided not to get CNICs altogether, he added.

He appealed to the Election Commission of Pakistan to ensure voters were enrolled accurately. The families of PPP workers, who were killed on May 12 in Karachi, had refused to accept Rs300,000 compensation announced by the Sindh government, which he said was an expression of people’s hatred towards the government.

He criticised the district’s revenue department, which he claimed had changed centuries-old records of property, agricultural lands and public plots through fraud and handed them over to land-grabbers. An inquiry should be conducted into the property scams and the officials found involved should be punished, he urged.

Meanwhile, a meeting of People’s Lawyers Forum (PLF) of Sukkur region presided over by its president Liaquat Shar formed a committee which would challenge the credibility of voter-lists in court.

Earlier, Syed Qaim Ali Shah presided over a condolence meeting over the death of Mashooq Makrani, general secretary of PPP Shah Latif Colony.

Procession: A large number of traders and members of general public staged a procession under the banner of Anjuman-i-Tajiran Khairpur on Thursday in protest against rise in the incidents of house robberies in the city.

The protesters gathered at Sachal Tower Panj Gulla Chowk where they raised slogans against police.

Anjuman-i-Tajiran Chairman Qutubuddin Shaikh and other leaders said that incidents of robbery in broad daylight had increased and they were worried over whether to look after their businesses or guard their houses during daytime.

They complained that police did not even register FIRs for the crime and said that most recently the bandits robbed the houses of Altaf Ahmed Shaikh, Haaso Mal, Sobho Mal, Shamsuddin Shaikh, Mushtaq Ahmed and several other people.

They said that besides house robbery, mobile snatching and motorcycle and car jacking, too, had become order of the day.

POWER BREAKDOWN: The city experienced hours of intermittent power breakdown on Wednesday from 10am to 11pm. It would come on for just an hour only to go again for about 2 to 3 hours throughout the day.

The breakdown disturbed water supply and forced patients admitted to government and private hospitals to face difficulties. Power outage with intervals continued on Thursday.