HYDERABAD, Sept 27: "Due to loot and plunder of resources of Sindh, unemployment and hunger have increased in the province and its fertile farmland is being rendered barren."

This was stated by the newly elected chairman of the Sindh chapter of the Labour Party of Pakistan, Ali Hassan Jatoi, at a news conference at the press club here on Monday. He said that due to an acute shortage of water in the lower riparian province, its small growers had been economically destroyed.

He added that despite this, the government was bent upon the construction of the Kalabagh dam and Greater Thal canal as a result of which millions of acres of land would be rendered barren in Sindh.

He pointed out that 1.5 million acres of land had been inundated by sea water and the kutcha land and forests had been badly affected. Mr Jatoi alleged that three million acres of land was being leased out to multinational companies for 99 years and the big landlords were vying to become partners of the companies.

He said that after the leasing out of the land, the small-scale farmers would be at the mercy of the companies. The LPP leader said that instead of resolving problems of the people, the Sindh Assembly had given priority to adopting a resolution in favour of President Gen Pervez Musharraf's uniform.

Mr Jatoi said that an army operation had been launched in Balochistan to suppress the voice of the people and added that the entire country was being converted into a cantonment and the smaller nations were living in prisons.

He said that the generals, feudal lords and capitalists had made lives of the people miserable as 50 per cent of the population was living below the poverty line. He said that due to government policies of downsizing and privatisation, unemployment was on the increase.

According to him, the congress adopted several resolutions demanding an end to the army's interference in the democratic institutions of the country, abandoning of the Kalabagh dam and Greater Thal canal projects, and an end to the army operation in Balochistan.

He said that Bachal Magsi and Basheer Khan had been elected vice-chairmen of the Sindh chapter of the LPP and Younus Rahu, Aijaz Shah, Tariq Gill and Ali Hassan Ishtiraki general secretary, joint secretary, finance secretary and press secretary, respectively. He said that a 21-member provincial council had also been elected at the LPP's provincial congress held at the local press club on Sunday.