HYDERABAD, July 13: The president, Tehrik-i-Istaqlal, Rehmat Khan Vardag, has demanded strict implementation of the 1991 water accord in order to redress the grievances of smaller provinces, and added that Sindh province should be given royalty for the water of the River Indus.

Speaking to a group of newsmen here on Saturday, he said various quarters are demanding implementation of the 1991 water accord, which was signed during the government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

He said the people of Sindh stood betrayed in view of their previous bitter experience, which was why they were not ready to believe that the greater Thal canal would operate only during floods and it would not be converted into a perennial canal.

He said that the grievances of the people of Sindh must be redressed.

He said that it was interesting that in the NWFP and Sindh, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the JUI-F were holding portfolios of local bodies’ ministries despite the fact that both of them had boycotted partyless local bodies’ elections held under the devolution plan by the military government.

He opposed interference of provincial ministries in the affairs of district governments all over the country.

He said that politicians had always welcomed military takeovers in the country whenever any civilian government was ousted.

He said that in the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) only the PPP had a mass following; otherwise “all other parties were paper tigers”.

He cautioned President Gen Pervez Musharraf not to lock horns with the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), which was not only playing the role of real opposition but it also has street power, because any such confrontation would be harmful for him.

BAIL: The sixth additional sessions judge on Saturday granted bail to a constable in the murder case of his wife in the sum of Rs50,000.

The case against Constable Khadim Hussain Shah was registered at Bhitshah police station on July 8, 2002, after he allegedly killed his wife, Najma Bibi.