July 14, 2008	Monday	Rajab 10, 1429

HYDERABAD, July 13: Sindh United Party (SUP) chief Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah describes the abolition of Sindh Coal Authority and its replacement with Thar Coal Authority as illegal and says the change aims at handing over Sindh’s resources to the federation.

Mr Shah, a former speaker of Sindh Assembly, said at a press conference on Sunday that when coal reserves of Lakhara could still meet the requirements why the government should touch those of Tharparkar.

Even in the United States the country was not exploiting all its oil reserves, they would exploit the untapped reserves after a certain quantity of oil reserves at some area had exhausted, he remarked.

He claimed that late Benazir Bhutto had formed a similar authority way back in 1988 to hand over the province’s coal reserves to the federation but his father late Imdad Mohammad Shah raised a strong voice against the move.

Mr Shah expressed concern over the state of affairs in the country where the state had fallen prey to different vested interests. The loot and plunder of the province’s resources and usurpation continued unabated, he said.

He said that under existing circumstances the universally acknowledged right of vote should be exercised but in Pakistan the favourites of the establishment were forming the ruling elite.

He said that this year called for census which would have set the country’s and the provinces’ direction for future but the parties in the government were themselves hit by confusions.

He said that it was time people of Sindh looked for third options apart from PML and PPP. When the chief minister did not have any right to appoint chief secretary or provincial police officer there could not be any improvement in governance, likewise when he could not post a secretary of food then the wheat crisis was bound to hit common man, he observed.

He said that Sindh badly needed a national political party, which could take a firm stand on the province’s autonomy.

There used to be only one minority minister but now there were around five to six, and increase their number was due to monetary deals, he claimed.

The SUP was ready to accommodate people who wanted to serve Sindh, he said and added that the present government was not delivering goods.

On the occasion, former secretary general of STP, Dr. Dodo Maheri announced joining SUP. He said in answer to a question that he had changed two or three parties but he himself had remained unchanged.

He said that Jalal Mehmood Shah had an unblemished record. When agencies’ stooges started dominating a party he had no other option but to get away to save his soul, he said.