KARACHI, Nov 18: City Nazim Niamatullah Khan has refused to attend an international seminar currently being held in France as a protest against the Sindh chief minister's recent statement concerning the nazim's visits abroad.

He has also assured the Chief Minister that he would not seek any NOC from him in future during his tenure as the city nazim.

The nazim has also returned the notification whereby he was allowed to attend a Euro-Asian International Seminar on "Better-Structured Decentralised Cooperation for Urban Projects in Asia Using Bilateral and Multilateral Public Aid," scheduled to be held on Nov 18 and 19 at Lyon, France.

Returning a copy of the notification (dated Sept 13, 2004) whereby the City Nazim was given an NOC for the seminar, the Nazim in a letter addressed to Sindh chief minister stated inter alia: "I am not attending this conference on your NOC as your public statements have made it controversial. Rest assured you will not be bothered in future for any NOC during my tenure as Nazim of Karachi."

Highlighting the importance of the seminar, he said that "this epoch-making seminar would have gone a long way in providing a collaborative platform for further projects of Karachi as it would have provided Karachi with a chance to obtain long-term funding, technical assistance and project financing for Karachi projects from leading European cities and international donor agencies, like World Bank, Asian Development Bank, etc.

A copy of a letter which the City Nazim has received from the sponsors of the seminar has also been attached with the Nazim's letter addressed to the chief minister, saying that "it will remove your misunderstandings.

A spokesman for the City district government said although the Sindh Local Government department through a notification (No SOV/6-7-8/3) issued on Sept. 13, 2004, had given an NOC to the nazim for attending the seminar, the Nazim has declined to attend the same to lodge his protest against the Sindh chief minister's recent statement in which the latter has stated that the Nazim had already undertaken 36 tours abroad and the Sindh government will no more issue NOCs to the Nazim for his visits abroad.

The Nazim pointed that all the international visits he has, so far, undertaken, were merely aimed at bringing foreign investment for the city's development projects, besides neither the Sindh government, nor the city government have spent even a single penny on his trips abroad.