SUKKUR, July 25: Former speaker of the National Assembly Illahi Bux Soomro said here on Tuesday that the government would be ‘ousted’ well before the scheduled general elections of 2007.

Talking to a group of newsmen in Sukkur on Tuesday, he said the changed was imminent and added that only army could remove the army government, as was done in the past.

He said that in a democratic set-up, doors to dialogue always remained open and politicians handled issues with mutual understanding, which proved result-oriented. On the contrary, he said, military rulers used force to tackle the issues, which only worsened the situation. Expressing his anxiety over the state of affairs in Sui and Dera Bugti, Mr Soomro said that a respected figure like Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was forced to leave his house and take shelter in the mountains.

Terming the surrendering of hundreds of Bugti militia men and recovery of arms and ammunition a drama, he said that Baloch love their land and would never surrender as easily as was being projected in the media by the government functionaries.

Replying to a question, he said that Jinnahpur was not a separate state, rather it was a conspiracy to merge Karachi, Hyderabad and Badin into India.

To another question, he said that the Kashmir issue generated three wars between Pakistan and India and ‘we also lost the eastern wing of our country’.

He said that the Kashmir issue must be resolved according to the wishes of the people of Kashmir.

To a question regarding the Hyderabad city government status, Mr Soomro said that Punjab consisted of bigger districts as compared to Sindh, but they neither divided those districts, nor they were paying any attention towards establishing city governments.

He said that through bifurcation of districts and creating new talukas, the Hyderabad city government was, in fact, launching a conspiracy against Sindhis.