HYDERABAD, Feb 18: The financial adviser to the Sindh government and senior deputy convener, MQM, Aftab Ahmed Sheikh, and the Sindh minister for local bodies, Mohammad Hussain, have lashed out at the local administration and the elected representatives of the Taluka councils for taking no steps to ameliorate the sufferings of the rain-affected people of Hyderabad.

They were speaking at a press conference at the press club on Tuesday.

Aftab Sheikh, who was the former mayor of Hyderabad, said that he along with other Haqparast-elected members of Sindh and National assemblies had paid several visits to various parts of the city and personally witnessed that knee-deep water was standing in most localities and no one had made any effort to have the rain water drained out.

He said that the deplorable state of affairs spoke volumes for the insensitivity of the local administration.

He was critical of the police and Rangers saying that under the new police rules, the police were accountable to no one but the IGP.

Mr Shaikh claimed that the people of Hyderabad were being severely punished for always siding with the opposition parties.

He said that the sewerage system had totally collapsed and the roads had almost disappeared from the city.

He demanded of President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the chief minister, Sindh, to announce a special package for the rehabilitation of the city.

Referring to the gruesome murder of former MQM MPA, Khalid Bin Waleed, Mr Sheikh said that his Soyem was being held in Karachi today but he along with the local bodies minister had come to Hyderabad to personally witness the havoc wrought by the rain.

Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Minister Mohammad Hussain said that he was shocked to see no activity in Hyderabad on the part of the district government, the Taluka administrations and union councils although the roads of almost the entire city had been submerged under rainwater.