HYDERABAD, March 30: Criticizing the nationalists of Sindh, Sindh National Front chief Mumtaz Ali Bhutto has said that he is concentrating on Punjab, the NWFP and Balochistan for the formation of a new party.

While talking to journalists at the local circuit house here on Saturday, he said that he had received a positive response regarding formation of a new political party as, according to him, currently there was no national party in the country, espousing the cause of the provinces.

Answering a question whether the nationalists forces of Sindh would join his yet-to-be formed party, Mr Mumtaz said that he had not so far contacted the nationalist parties, adding that the nationalist leaders were only interested in publicity and leadership.

However, he said, he would contact the nationalist leaders, too. For the time being, he said, he was concentrating on the NWFP, Punjab, and Balochistan and expressed the hope that he would get a positive response in this regard.

Referring to his meeting with the chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Altaf Hussain, he said that they had not talked about the formation of the new party.

The talks, he said, had focussed on cooperation between the urban and rural populations.

The SNF leader said that if the Urdu- and Sindhi-speaking people were to unite on one platform, it would not be easy to exploit the people of Sindh.

Analysing the present political situation, he said that the People’s Party Parliamentarians had restricted itself to Sindh while the Pakistan Muslim League-Q could be described as a temporary party.

He said that the so-called democracy had not been able to resolve problems of the people, adding that the situation in that regard had not changed even after the general elections.

Real power, he said, had not been transferred to the elected representatives, adding “about 80 per cent of the voters did not take part in the general elections and 50 per cent of the elected representatives reached the assemblies through rigging.”

Without being specific, he likened the present situation to the era of Genghis Khan and Hulaku Khan, and added that economic and political confrontation was likely to change the world map.