SUKKUR, Sept 2: Sindh Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Khan Mahar has said that the provincial government will never compromise on the interests of Sindh. “Let this impression be removed once and for all that we will bargain the interests of Sindh away.”
He was speaking here on Tuesday at the Public School at the inauguration ceremony of the Ghulam Mohammad Mahar Medical College.
He blamed the opposition in Sindh for pursuing non-issues particularly its protest against the Kalabagh dam and Thal canal projects.
He said: “It is easy to hire 30 or 40 vehicles to take out processions but the people are now fed up of such sort of negative politics.”
He said whatever decisions were taken on the Kalabagh Dam and Thal canal, it would be after removing the apprehensions of the people of Sindh.
However, the chief minister supported President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s views on building water reservoirs to meet Pakistan’s future water needs.
He said that even 100 dams could be built to meet ever-growing water shortage but the apprehensions of the people of Sindh would be removed first.
He said that a technical committee, led by an expert, A. N. G. Abbasi, had been formed, while a political committee was also to be assigned the task of giving its opinion on the Kalabagh dam and greater Thal canal projects.
He wondered as to how it was possible for Mr Abbasi to accept the Kalabagh dam as he was a great opponent of it.
Mr Mahar assured that the committees would take into account the apprehensions of the people of Sindh on the projects.
Referring to unemployment, he said that the details had been provided to the World Bank and now a schedule had been chalked out for providing 33,000 jobs to the youth of Sindh in the education, health and police departments.
He said that his government was concerned for those whose jobs had been terminated during the past governments. He referred to the reinstatement of 85 agricultural officials and 193 assistant sub-inspectors recently.
On a demand of some contractual doctors, he asked them to give him an application and assured them that their services would be regularized.