HYDERABAD, July 26: Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party chairman Dr Qadir Magsi has said that Sindh United Party chief Syed Jalal Mehmood has made a mistake by entering into an electoral alliance with Nawaz Sharif.

Speaking to journalists after chairing meeting of the central committee of his party here on Thursday, Dr Magsi said: “I am not in favour of this alliance.”

He said the scenario for the Sindh Progressive Nationalist Alliance (SPNA), of which the SUP was a component party along with the STP and Awami Tehrik had changed after the SUP chief’s decision to enter into an alliance with PML-N.

Leaders of the SPNA had decided that they would contest polls jointly and joint candidates would be fielded in their strongholds, he said, adding that a meeting of the alliance leaders would be held soon to devise a new strategy for the polls.

He urged the government to shelve the Zulfikarabad project as it was anti-Sindhi. Outsiders wanted to usurp the coastal land of Thatta to set up the new city and people were being forced to sell their property and land to make the project a success, he said.

He said that property ownership deeds and documents of lease of land in the vicinity of the proposed Zulfikarabad had disappeared. The government should take sensible decisions and immediately shelve the anti-Sindhi project, he said.

He said the natives would not be able to take full advantage of the project while the outsiders would possess their land and resources.

“STP is a responsible party. We are not in a hurry to come to power. The party has proved it is not a one man show by taking decisions independently when I was on a trip to the US,” he said.

During his visit to the US, Dr Magsi said, he met Sindhi expatriates and officials of the US State Department and highlighted before them problems being faced by the people in Sindh.

He said that he urged the US officials to help bring about electoral reforms in Pakistan to control rigging in polls by introducing biometric system and electronic voting.

He said the party’s central committee took stock of the prevailing political situation, besides water shortage, loadshedding and rising crime rate, especially in Qasimabad where prominent neurosurgeon Dr Aftab Qureshi was killed recently in a botched rescue operation.

He said that high-profile cases of kidnapping were being committed in Qasimabad but police were not taking any action against criminals.

He warned that if police failed to curb crimes, STP workers would take up the responsibility to safeguard people in Qasimabad. “Then nobody will have the right to call Qasimabad a no-go area if we install gates on the main road.”

About the MQM’s invitation to a roundtable conference, Dr Magsi said that if MQM contacted the party a decision would be taken by the party’s central committee on whether or not to attend it.