Speaking to journalists late Saturday night in the Civil Hospital, where he had gone to inquire about the health of two of those injured in the bomb blast, Mr Aftab said that President Musharraf in his upcoming visit to Sindh was bringing up the issue of the greater Thal canal and the Kalabagh Dam as he considered the two projects to be “in the larger interest of the people as well as the country”.
He said, “We have our own statistics pertaining to the issues of the Kalabagh Dam and the greater Thal canal. That’s why we are asking to sit and hold talks with the experts and relevant parties.”
He said that if one province was not ready to accept the project then it should be shelved.
Regarding a question that President Musharraf was unhappy over the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s approach to the issue of the greater Thal canal, Mr Aftab said that the Muttahida had devised its own policy that unless all the four provinces gave their consent to the construction of the two projects they should not be carried out.
He elucidated that if the greater Thal canal was constructed without consensus among the four provinces, it would negate the very basis of provincial autonomy and deprive the smaller provinces of their fundamental rights.
He stressed the need that effectiveness of the projects should be determined whether Sindh province would be getting water following their completion.
He said that the Thal canal project was also in violation of the 1945 Water Accord.
The former deputy convener, MQM, stated that massive financial allocations had been made in the budget 2003-04 and the project was continuing.
He claimed that Sindh’s viewpoint should be given due weight as the Sindh Assembly had rejected the two projects in its resolutions that had been sent to the centre and the resolutions also contained the stand of the MQM. When he was reminded that the Sindh PPP chief accused the MQM of double standards and that it should put pressure on the prime minister as it did for elimination of no-go areas in Karachi, the adviser said that the PPP should ask its friends in Punjab as what they were doing against the greater Thal canal or the Kalabagh Dam, adding that the MQM’s stand about the controversial projects was very clear.
He said that the PPP was divided over the issue.
About the recent spate of violence in Karachi, he hinted at the involvement of one and the same group in the killings of doctors.
He disclosed that evidence so far collected by the police led to the involvement of the same group, which gave the killings a sectarian colour.
He said that these incidents were also aimed at harming the atmosphere of investment in Karachi, adding that it was a dangerous conspiracy to destroy peace.
Mr Aftab said that recently a conference on investment had ended and these killings were aimed at scaring away the investors. He added that the investors had returned to their countries satisfied about the “peaceful situation in Karachi” where labour was cheap.
He said that the killing of Dr Ibnul Hassan was premeditated as he used to take precautionary measures about his safety, and added that Dr Hassan’s killing was followed by that of Dr Shoaib Shafique’s.
He asserted that the recent killings had been discussed by him with the officials concerned and certain things could not be made public or disclosed to the press.
He said that investigation was still going on.
Mr Aftab, however, claimed that the police would lay hands on the suspects within 10 days.
He said that certain cases were solved and decided by the courts but their appeals remained pending.
He further said that he would talk to the police officials of Hyderabad regarding successive bomb blast incidents to ascertain what was the level of their investigation.