KARACHI, March 7: Veteran politician Pir Pagara said there is no likelihood of general elections in the near future and a state of emergency is about to be imposed in the country.

Talking to newsmen after a meeting with former prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali in the Kingri House on Wednesday, the chief of the Pakistan Muslim League–Functional said that the imposition of emergency was imminent and the assemblies would not offer any resistance.

About claims that the ‘Sindh card’ was now held by President Pervez Musharraf, he said no one other than the people of the province held the Sindh card.

He said there was no ‘liberation army’ in Sindh and he himself was a nationalist, not a separatist, supporting the rights of the people living in Sindh. “Punjab considers itself as the whole of Pakistan. We are Pakistanis, but Punjab treats us as Hindustanis.”

He said the international situation was quite bad and an attack on Iran would have a negative effect on Pakistan.

Pir Pagara said that Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim did not invite him to his All Parties Conference (APC).

He said that by convening the APC, Arbab was trying to compete with Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, but he would not be able to achieve their level of popularity. “Eventually he will return to his hometown of Thar.”

Mr Jamali said that President Musharraf’s recent visit to Balochistan and a package announced by him would provide relief to the people but would not eliminate the sense of deprivation in the province.

He stressed the need for creation of more provinces in the country. He said that at the time of partition India had only 14 provinces and now it had 33 provinces. “When we can carve out new districts and talukas, why can’t we create more provinces? I think there is no problem in creating more provinces,” he added.

He said Punjab did not care for any other province because it had 148 seats in the National Assembly.