HYDERABAD, Jan 24: People's Party Parliamentarians leader Syed Naveed Qamaruzzaman Shah has observed that the Gen Pervez Musharraf government's wrong political, economic and financial policies have put the very existence of the country at stake.

He was speaking at an Eid Millan party hosted by Hyderabad PPP president Syed Mohsin Shah Bukhari for party workers in Tando Mohammad Khan on Sunday. The PPP leader said his party would not tolerate any excesses against people of Balochistan and it would continue to raise its voice on the floor of parliament for the rights of Baloch people.

He demanded that people involved in the criminal assault on a lady doctor in Sui should be arrested and awarded deterrent punishment. He regretted that instead of resolving problems of people, the present government was creating new problems for them.

Mr Shah said the PPP's struggle for restoration of true democracy in the country would continue and the party would not accept any government to entering the corridors of power through the backdoor. He said his party did not believe in any secret deal with the 'uniformed' people.

He exhorted the party cadre to prepare themselves not only for the local bodies' elections but also for general elections, claiming that the days of the present government were numbered.

Later, talking to reporters, he said the PPP had neither played a role in the change of the Sindh government nor it had struck any deal with the government. About the district bifurcation plan, he said new districts were being created not to resolve problems of people but to oblige certain political figures.

He said the proposal to divide the Hyderabad district was floated at the insistence of a particular organization. He said people would not accept bifurcation of the district.

Mr Bukhari, Mohammad Amin Lakho, Mashooq Ali Bhatti, Ali Nawaz Bhutto and others also spoke on the occasion. Meanwhile, PPP MNA Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpur in a statement faxed to Dawn here on Sunday termed the Muttahida Qaumi Movement's threat to quit the government on the Balochistan issue a political manoeuvre.

He said his party was strongly opposed to the army operation in Balochistan and added that it would continue to raise its voice for rights of Balochs at all forums. Mr Talpur said the Balochistan operation would have dangerous repercussions on the solidarity of the country.