SUKKUR, Dec 2: Pakistan People’s Party’s stance on the Kalabagh dam project was declared in very clear terms years ago in a historic sit-in led by Benazir Bhutto at Kamoon Shaheed — a town located along the Sindh-Punjab border — and this stance cannot be changed.

This was declared by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah while speaking to the media and the people who called on him at the Khairpur Circuit House on Saturday evening.

“The dam project had been buried forever at Kamoon Shaheed,” he remarked.

He said that PPP had never supported any anti-people project or step, and criticised the elements supporting the Musharraf-led regime for trying to revive the issue.

The chief minister said that the government was striving hard for prosperity and progress of the nation, adding that thousands of unemployed youths had been provided jobs while several million others were being educated and imparted training in different fields which would enable them to have respectable livelihood. The under-training youths were being paid stipends to that they did not face financial problems in completing their training, he said.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Inter-Provinces Coordination Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, speaking at a public meeting in Mirpur Buriro, near Thull town of Jacobabad, on Sunday, condemned attempts by disgruntled forces to revive the Kalabagh dam project. He declared that the dam would not be built until a single Sindhi was alive.

He said that the Lahore High Court verdict on the dam project could create aversion between Punjab and other provinces which would not be beneficial for the federation.

The minister told the audience that the upcoming general elections would be held on time and the opposition’s all apprehensions regarding rigging would be removed.

About the new LG law, he said that it was not the final word as amending the law to the benefit of those opposing it was possible.