HYDERABAD, March 4: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) supports 1991 Water Accord till the re-assessment of water distribution to the four provinces. The party opposes the construction of Thal Canal because there was no mention of any such project in 1991 Water Accord.

This was said by the deputy convener of the MQM coordination committee, Dr Farooque Sattar, while talking to newsmen at the marriage ceremony of the son of former MPA Syed Afzal Shah here on Sunday night.

He said that his party had serious reservations about participating in the elections and linked it with circumstances prevailing at the time of the polls.

He said that a delegation of the MQM had met the chief election commissioner and expressed their point of view.

He said that the MQM had participated in elections in the past but there had always been the negation of mandate given to it.

He asserted that there was urgent need of curing the disease which afflicts the political structure of the country.

About the popularity graph of the MQM, he said that a gulf was deliberately created between people and leadership of the party.

He was of the view that the urban-rural divide had always benefited a third party in the country but the people had now realised it very clearly.

Referring to the MQM’s working relationship with the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, he said that his party had taken up the case of Sindh sincerely to take it to its logical end.

Dr Sattar said that a sense of alienation existed among people of Sindh because of anti-Sindh policies by the establishment and several quarters.

Keeping in view the fact that the rulers had taken a U-turn in their foreign policy, the stability on the home front was essential, he argued.

The MQM leader disagreed that powers had really been devolved under the devolution system and maintained that only powers to impose tax on masses did not mean that powers had really been transferred at the grass root level. He added that district government was not competent for legislation.