HYDERABAD, May 22: A national conference organized by the Awami Tahreek in Bhit Shah on Saturday night demanded that 80 per cent of jobs in national and multinational companies located in Sindh should be given to the people of the province, and no dam or canal be constructed on the Indus River.

They urged the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Conference and other international organizations to appoint impartial judges to resolve the water problem of the province and ensure justice to Sindh.

In the charter of demands presented at the conference, the speakers further demanded that the Sindh governor should be appointed by the people and not by the president, and a new census be held to ascertain the exact population of each province.

Mr Rasool Bux Palijo, chief of Awami Tahreek, said that Sindh had been deprived of 80 per cent of its water share.

Mr Palijo appealed to the UN, the OIC and Saarc countries to appoint impartial judges to resolve the controversial water issue between Punjab and Sindh.

The chief of Awami Tahreek said the fate of millions of people of Sindh was linked with water, and this issue must be resolved urgently.

He said water shortage had totally destroyed Sindh’s agriculture, which made it all the more important to resolve this issue immediately.

Mr Palijo, who said the people of Sindh were not prepared to accept any decision of the Sindh government on the NFC award, demanded that the province be given financial resources commensurate with the income the province generated.

Mr Palijo urged the federal government ‘to restore the sovereignty of Sindh’ and abandon all ‘anti-Sindh projects’.

He warned the rulers that the people ‘will not allow the sell-out of Sindh’s cause’.

PML-N leader Siddiqul Farooq said that the enemies of the oppressed people of Sindh were also the enemies of the oppressed people of Punjab, the NWFP and Balochistan.

He said he had brought a massage from Nawaz Sharif to assure the people of Sindh that his party fully supported the stand of the poor people of Sindh.

Senior vice chairman of the STPP, Haider Shahani, said that the Sindh province had been facing many problems due to wrong policies of the rulers.

Another PML-N leader, Afzal Gujjar, said his party fully supported views of the people of Sindh on all the issues.

He urged all the ‘federalist parties’ to take a firm stand on all national issues and support the nationalist parties in their just cause.

MPA Sassui Palijo alleged that smaller provinces would be deprived of their water rights through construction of the Kalabagh dam.

Mairaj Mohammad Khan said that convening of the national conference to highlight the problems of Sindh was not only timely but had also been the need of the hour.

He said over 60 million people of Pakistan were living in abject poverty, but successive governments had done nothing to ameliorate the lot of the masses.

Mr Khan said he had not been against anyone, but was simply pleading the case of ‘the oppressed people’.

SNF leader Gul Mohammad Jakhrani, who said Sindh had already lost control over its resources, urged all the nationalist parties to unite under one flag to protect their inherent rights.

He demanded that Sindh should be given autonomy in accordance with the 1940 resolution.

Others who also spoke on the occasion included Ayaz Latif Palijo, Abrar Qazi, Qadir Ranto and Maulana Azam Jehangiri.

Zain Ansari, provincial president of the ARD, and leaders from some other parties were also present.

Thousands of people from all over Sindh attended the conference.