LARKANA, Jan 12: Leader of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F Senator Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro has urged the government for an early announcement of the National Finance Commission (NFC) award.

Speaking at a press conference here on Tuesday, he asked as to what was hindering the government from the announcement of the award.

He deplored that despite paying the lion’s share in the federal revenue collection, Sindh received meagre funds from the centre.

He said that Sindh contributed 70 per cent of the revenue collection to the centre but unfortunately it hardly received 10 per cent in return.

Senator Soomro said that Sindh was rich in natural resources and met key requirements of the country in oil and gas sectors but 90 per cent employees in the oil and gas enterprises were from other provinces.

He said that this kind of injustice was a constant source of irritation for the people of the province.

The JUI-F leader called for complete provincial autonomy. He criticised the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for not fulfilling its commitments with the JUI-F. He said that prior to the elections for the slots of president and the prime minister, both President Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gillani called on the JUI leadership and had agreed to discontinue policies of the former president, Pervez Musharraf, and to persecute Pervez Musharraf for the massacre in tribal areas, bombarding Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa.

The government’s performance was poor as it had failed almost on all major fronts, he said, adding that the foreign policy was flawed, inflation rate had gone up, corruption was on the rise, law and order situation was fragile, power and gas load-shedding continued unabated.

He said it was unfortunate that the government was spending a huge amount for erection of boundary wall around the President’s camp office in Naudero in such circumstances.

Terming the sectarian clash in Larkana a conspiracy, he accused activists of a banned outfit from Qambar, Ratodero and Shahdadkot of disturbing peace in the area.

He alleged that intelligence agencies were behind that incident and added that the JUI-F constantly strived for peace and religious harmony in the country.

Condemning the Israeli aggression on the Palestinians, he feared that the US and Israel through India under the cover of Mumbai incident were planning some adventure in Pakistan.

He announced that a conference of all religious parties would be convened in a week in Larkana to maintain peace in the district.