KARACHI, May 16: Sardar Mumtaz Ali Bhutto, Chairman of the Sindh National Front, has said that the Sindh Solidarity Conference, held on May 5 in Karachi, proved that the people of Sindh were ready to forge unity and defend the rights of their province, says a press release.

Talking to visitors at his home in Mirpur Bhutto on Thursday, he said that the SNF organising committee would meet within a week to set up the Sindh solidarity council, consisting some of the participants of the conference, to work out a programme aimed at launching a movement to protect the rights of Sindh.

He said that there was no conflict between the outlook of Sindh National Front, Sindh Solidarity Conference and the National Alliance which also stood for the rights of the smaller provinces and a just distribution of water and wealth of the country.

There would be no compromise on the interests of Sindh at any cost, he declared saying that on the contrary, every platform including that of National Alliance would be used to protect the same.

The SNF chief regretted that money was being wasted on the construction of Thal canal which would take more than seven years to complete and there was no guarantee as to what might transpire during this period.

It demanded that the work on this project be stopped immediately and Punjab should be restricted to use the upstream canals on Indus only when water discharge downstream Guddu rose above the mark of 900,000 cusecs.

It suggested arbitration and award by international experts under the international law to solve the problem once and for all.