PESHAWAR, Jan 5: Speakers at a seminar have opposed the privatization of Wapda and assured their support to workers of the organization in their struggle against the plan.

The assurance was given during a seminar organized by Wapda Hydro Electric Central Labour Union (WHECLU) at Nishtar Hall here. The general secretary of the union, Gohar Taj, on the occasion, threatened to disconnect power supply on Jan 29.

Central president of Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Mehmood Khan Achakzai remarked that the issue had been deliberately raised to deprive Pukhtuns of their basic and genuine rights.

The Pukhtun nation does not have its own command over its natural resources. It has been deprived and intentionally compelled to opt labour for living. It also does not have a provincial assembly of its own where it can sit and discuss its problems, Achakzai added.

He also lashed out at the water accord and said the Pukhtuns had been given only eight per cent share in water and asked for its revision. He accused Punjab of usurping all resources of the NWFP and of recently grabbing more water by redirecting it to Punjab through the Ghazi Barotha project, he said.

Mr Achakzai asked the MMA to lead them or allow them to lead the Pukhtun nation to get its rights. He also urged all nationalist parties to create unity among their ranks in the initial stage and then make coordination with other nations to get rid of what he called Punjab's domination.

The ANP's vice president Ghulam Bilour in his address said the privatization of Wapda is not the problem only of the employees but it will also affect provincial rights.

The proposed privatization of Wapda would not only affect the employees but it would definitely harm the economy of the province, he observed and added the government should hand over it to the province as it was before the establishment of One Unit.

He regretted that Wapda was in the control of Frontier province before independence and even after independence, but it was deprived of it after the establishment of One Unit. One Unit remains no more but the province has not been given its property, he added.

He too, asked the government to hand over the organization to Frontier, as it was its constitutional right. Let the province to deal with its resources, he added. President of Mazdoor Kisan Party Afzal Khamosh in his speech termed the proposed privatization of Wapda as a conspiracy of multinational companies (MNCs).

He said MNCs wanted to capture world resources and for this purpose, he said, they were forcing the rulers to third world countries to privatize national organizations.

The MNCs had been installing their agents in Pakistan since long in different periods and this time they succeeded in installing their agent in India, Mr Khamosh said while hinting at Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Indian premier Manmohan Singh.