LARKANA, Sept 21: Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, the leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly, said the merger or amalgamation of scattered factions of the Pakistan Muslim League and the birth of the Muttahida Muslim League was an indicator that general elections were on the way.

Talking to this correspondent at his residence on Sunday, Mr Khuhro said that they all were already in alliance and in government and there was no threat to President Musharraf or the government.

He termed the unification a well-calculated step towards the formation of “Musharraf Muslim League”.

He said the general alone was enough to keep the government intact and this kind of practice was just “re-alignment” as he foresaw the general election soon.

He said that with this united Muslim League in the field, the rulers “had planned to rig the polls on a large scale” and tell the world that there was a big turnout in the elections and unmatched support to the party was only due to the unification of various factions of the PML.

He said when the King’s party failed in attaining a “simple majority” in the Assembly, this new experiment of the Muttahida Muslim League was performed where President Musharraf had played the role of “catalyst” and himself went to the prime minister’s house.

He wondered as to why the Muslim Leaguers had dropped the names of Qaid-i-Azam, Jinnah and functional while agreeing on the new entity.

Replying to a question regarding dissolution of the Assemblies under the prevailing conditions, Mr Khuhro said the prime minister may himself advice for the dissolution of assemblies and “enjoy the caretaker term”.

On being asked whether the PPP was ready for the polls, Mr Khuhro said the PPP had always been in alliance with the “awam,” while the King’s parties had always tried to block popular parties’ popularity paths.

He said the formation of a new group with the combination of different PPP factions would have no effect on the PPP’s standing.

Responding to another question regarding whether he would agree with the viewpoint of Ghinwa Bhutto for discussing the issue of constructing the Thal canal and Kalabagh dam in the Council of Common Interests, Mr Khuhro said “yes”. But in the same breath added that the Council of Common Interests was yet to take birth and in its absence, President Musharraf had no right to constitute a “technical committee”.

He further said actually the president had violated articles 153, 154 and 155 of the Constitution by announcing to constitute a committee. “And that is why the notification to this effect had been delayed. It was just lip service and mere eyewash to constitute a committee.”

He said the Sindh Assembly in its resolution had also asked the Council of Common Interests, not the president, who was party to it.

He said it is a federally-funded project, and added the chairman, Wapda, exceeding his authority, was touring the provinces and mustering support for the projects. “This is purely a political decision, while Wapda is a technical body.”

He alleged that Wapda was poking its nose only to earn “commission” from this giant project, which was worth Rs300 billion.