KARACHI: Senior Sindh Minister Nisar Khuhro has expressed his dismay over a delay in the announcement of the 9th National Finance Commission Award and said that the provincial government will never give up its rights.

Talking to a group of newsmen after speaking at a seminar here on Tuesday, he said the delay suggested that the federal government had not accepted the principle of the NFC award and provincial autonomy with an open heart.

He said the delay in the announcement of the NFC award amounted to committing excesses with smaller provinces such as Sindh and deserved condemnation.

In reply to a question, the minister said that reducing the tenure of the government from five to four years would affect the supremacy of parliament and continuity of democracy.

Besides, he said, it would also need an amendment in the Constitution and at present other parties in parliament were not in a mood to cooperate with the government.

Referring to prolonged loadshedding in Sindh, Mr Khuhro said that the tall claims made by the federal government about minimising loadshedding in Sindh were false as the people were suffering from unannounced 12-hour loadshedding daily in the this hot and humid weather.

He said if the unannounced loadshedding was not stopped, the PPP would stage sit-ins against the federal government.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2016