MIRPURKHAS, Feb 14: Sindh People's Party Parliamentarians president Syed Qaim Ali Shah has termed the meeting of party chairperson Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Nawaz Sharif in Jeddah a major political event.

Speaking at a press conference at the Jilani House here on Sunday, he welcomed the meeting and said it would strengthen the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy.

He observed that the PPP and the PML-N were the two main political parties of the country and both believed in democracy. Mr Shah termed the government's announcement about recruitments on merit a drama and said only favourites of influential people would get jobs.

He further said the Sindh government was running in deficit of Rs23 billion and the province had demanded funds from the Centre because without additional funds it could not provide new jobs.

The PPP leader said only a political government could extricate the country from the crises. He urged authorities concerned to ensure holding of free and fair local bodies' election where voters could caste their votes without any pressure.

Referring to the Balochistan situation, he said disturbance in Balochistan was due to inefficiency of the government. He regretted that conditions in Sindh were not different from Balochistan either. Answering a question, he said the PPP was striving under the leadership of Mr Bhutto for restoration of democracy.

He said Sindh was facing acute shortage of water, unemployment and poverty but the government was going ahead with its plan to construct the Kalabagh dam. He observed that the dam issue might cause downfall of the government. The Sindh PPP chief said his party was making efforts to stop the government from bifurcation of districts and talukas.

He condemned custodial death of a PPP worker, Abu Bakar Panhwar, in Mirpurkhas. He said following the death of Mr Panhwar, police registered a false case against PPP activists, including an MPA, for protesting against the incident.

MNAs Nawab Yousuf Talpur and Pir Aftab Hussain Shah Jilani, MPA Shamim Aara Panhwar, Ali Nawaz Shah and former District Nazim Pir Shafqat Hussain Shah Jilani were also present.