HYDERABAD, Aug 13: The Anti-Greater Thal Canal and Kalabagh Dam Action Committee has criticized President Gen Pervez Musharraf for his statement about the Kalabagh dam.

It decided to stage a protest sit-in at the Hyder Chowk in Hyderabad on Sept 5 and a procession from the mausoleum of the Quaid-i-Azam to the Sindh High Court building on Oct 3.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the action committee held at the residence of MPA Syed Ali Nawaz Shah Rizvi in Gulistan-i-Sajjad here on Saturday. Committee convener Syed Qaim Ali Shah, who is also provincial president of the People’s Party Parliamentarians, presided over the meeting.

The meeting appealed to people of Sindh not to vote for candidates in the local body elections who supported construction of the dam.

Leaders of different political parties affiliated with the action committee, including Awami Tehrik chief Rasool Bux Palijo, Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party chairman Dr Qadir Magsi, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam leader Taj Mohammad Nahiyoon, Jamaat-i-Islami leader Abdul Waheed Qureshi, Water Committee secretary Ibrar Qazi, PPP leader Shah Mohammad Shah and Nazeer Memon, attended the meeting.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, Qaim Ali Shah observed that statements of the president and the prime minister on the Kalabagh dam issue had injured feelings of people of the country, especially Sindh.

He expressed surprise that the president had made a categorical statement about construction of the dam even before the receipt of reports of the technical water committee and the parliamentary committee on water. He maintained that people had already rejected the dam.

He said Gen Musharraf had no right to take any decision on the dam issue as the decision had to be taken by people of the provinces. He said such an important decision could not be left to a single individual.

The PPP leader observed that construction of the project was a conspiracy to pit people of the federating units against one another.

AT chief Palijo said he failed to fathom what message Gen Musharraf was trying to convey to people of Sindh by insisting on construction of the dam.

He appealed to the international community to play its role in ensuring due share in water supply to Sindh.

STPP chairman Magsi took strong exception to the alleged threats being issued by the Punjab Water Council to people of Sindh.

SAB: Sindh Abadgar Board president Abdul Majeed Nizamani has appealed to the federal government to direct importers and manufacturers of agriculture implements, machinery, fertilizers, pesticides and seeds, including hybrid varieties, to reserve some quota for farmers for direct purchase from the company.