KARACHI, Jan 27: The Sindh Assembly on Monday expressed concern over the reported remarks by the Punjab Water Council Coordinator, Hamid Malahi, that Punjab was mentally prepared to accept Sindh’s separation on water issue.

Mr Malahi was quoted by a Hyderabad based Sindhi language daily as saying: “We are annoyed at the blackmailing by Sindh on water distribution issue. We are mentally prepared to accept Sindh’s separation on the issue of Kalabagh dam.”

Amid continued bickering over the improper implementation of water accord between Sindh and Punjab, owing to which agricultural sector in Sindh was badly affected, the PPP Parliamentarians’ Tariq Masood Arain had raised the issue on a point of order.

The PPP’s Parliamentary Leader, Nisar Khuhro, read out the contents of Mr Malahi’s interview and expressed astonishment over the silence of the Sindh government which, he said, had neither taken any notice of such a malicious statement nor did it seek any clarification from Punjab government as yet.

At first the law minister, Chaudhry Iftekhar Ahmad, wanted to shoot the motion down on technicalities citing non-receipt of notice, but the Speaker, Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, put the law minister on notice and asked him come prepared with a statement on Wednesday, after verifying the genuineness of the reported interview.

The intent of the MPA, who raised the issue, and apparently of many on the Treasury Benches also, was that Mr Malahi had spit venom against Sindh and had unfolded a diabolic conspiracy against the province which had allegedly been suffering at the hands of Punjab.

The Speaker’s directive to the law minister to come prepared with a statement on the matter could also be interpreted as damage-control effort as members were seemingly not happy with Mr Malahi’s remarks.