SHIKARPUR, Nov 9: Sindh National Front chairman Mumtaz Ali Bhutto has said that a joint struggle for restoration of usurped rights of Sindh is the need of the hour. Speaking to members of the District Bar Association here on Wednesday, he said that Sindh was in great trouble as anti-Sindh conspiracies were being hatched by Punjab with support of the federal government.

He said that it was not possible for Sindhis to improve the socio-economic conditions and improve the standard of life when Sindh’s natural resources, including water and revenue, had been manipulated by Islamabad and utilised in Punjab.

He said that the government was supporting an agenda of dividing Sindh on rural and urban bases with ‘official waderas’ domanating the in rural areas and the MQM calling the shots in urban Sindh.

Mumtaz Bhutto, who is also the chief of Sindh Qaumi Ittehad, opposed what he called Musharraf government’s policy of encouraging the blackmailing of the Sindh government and interfering in provincial affairs by the MQM.

He said that Gen Musharraf was taking revenge of Sindhis through the MQM and had given it partnership in power despite the fact it was declared a terrorist outfit.

He said that two army operations were carried out against the MQM in the past. He alleged that hundreds of Sindhis were killed and looted in Karachi and other big cities by the MQM.