KARACHI, May 9: Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly, Nisar Khuhro, has alleged that Gen Musharraf is insisting on retaining his discretionary powers under the Legal Framework Order (LFO) to strike a sellout on Kashmir and turn the country into a colony of exploitative forces.

He was addressing the workers convention organized by Pakistan Peoples Party at Razzaqabad in Malir on Thursday night.

Mr Khuhro said that the response of the workers convention had paved the way for launching a movement for the return of Ms Benazir Bhutto, chairperson of the PPP.

He declared that the present regime would not be allowed to undermine will of the masses through LFO. He said his party would struggle against exorbitant price hike, unemployment and lawlessness.

He flayed the government for ignoring Sindh Assembly’s unanimous resolutions against the construction of Greater Thal canal and the NFC Award.

Mr Khuhro warned that the people of Sindh would not tolerate such an insult of their elected representatives and posed a question to the co-sponsors of the resolution, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, whether their stand was a mere lip service or did they really meant it? If it was just a lip service, then it should be deplored, he said.

The opposition leader said that the people of Sindh want their rights and their share in resource allocation restored.

A central leader of PPP, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, vowed to resist attempts aimed at mutilating the Constitution and making the parliament subservient to the military dictator. He declared: “PPP would resist (such attempts) inside the parliament as well as on the streets.”

The convention was also addressed by Taj Haider, N. D. Khan, Rashid Rabbani, Sher Mohammad Baloch, Khwaja Mohammad Awan, Sajid Jokhio, Abdullah Murad, Bano Saghir, Habibuddin Junedi, Munawar Suhrawardi and others. They lamented organizational matters and stressed the need for remaining prepared to ‘fill jails’, if necessary.

The convention adopted a number of resolutions one of them calling for the withdrawal of cases against Ms Bhutto and another for the release of Asif Zardari from illegal detention. The resolutions said that the government’s policy towards the two leaders was detrimental to the integrity of the country.

Through another resolution, participants of the convention demanded that LFO should be presented in the parliament for validation and President should be elected in accordance with the procedure laid down in the 1973 Constitution.

The convention also deplored horse trading and attempts to impose minority groups on Sindh through coercive means describing the move as ‘a conspiracy to subvert will of the people’.

It lamented the deteriorating law and order situation in the province and demanded resignation of the provincial government for its failure in this regard.

The PPP workers slammed the rising cost of utilities. They condemned raids on power consumers’ houses, disconnection drive and inhuman treatment meted out to the citizens.

The convention demanded withdrawal of all anti-labour laws.

One of the resolutions condemned the government for ignoring the unanimously adopted Sindh Assembly resolution on Thal Canal project. The assembly had recommended to the provincial government to make a complaint to the Council of Common Interests, under Article 155 of the Constitution, against the project and request the Centre to stop the construction work.

Yet another resolution flayed the government for its failure to address the people’s problems and cited more than 7,000 transfers and postings on political and other grounds over the last three months in this regard.