HYDERABAD, Dec 30: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal MNA Sahebzada Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair has expressed the fear that bifurcation of Hyderabad will spark ethnic animosities in the district.

Speaking at a news conference here on Thursday, he said the chief minister was trying to bifurcate the district on ethnic lines to please an allied party of his government.

He said if any bifurcation was needed, it should be done through consensus and in accordance with law. He announced that notwithstanding promulgation of section 144, Cr.PC, in the district banning processions and public meetings, the MMA would observe its planned black day on Jan 1.

The senior vice-president of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan claimed that the government's announcement to hold the local bodies' election on non-party basis was an expression of no-confidence in the Pakistan Muslim League. However, he said the MMA had constituted an Ittehad Millat Group to contest the polls. He said the alliance was prepared to contest the election from the platform of the Millat group.

He alleged that the chief minister had already started pre-polls rigging by removing nazims and naib nazims supported by opposition parties. He said the MMA would not tolerate the rigging.

The MMA leader said he had spent Rs15 million on various development schemes in Hyderabad and added that City Taluka Nazim Moinuddin Shaikh had also completed many a development schemes.

He said his party was trying to enforce and protect Nizam-i-Mustafa in the country. He criticized the rulers for amending blasphemy laws and said these amendments were not acceptable to the MMA.

MPA Abdur Rehman Rajput warned that if the Hyderabad district was bifurcated without taking people and elected representatives into confidence, consequences would be disastrous. He advised the chief minister to learn a lesson from the Qambar incident.

EMERGENCY: Hyderabad Development Authority director-general Tahir Ahmad has declared emergency in the department to meet the water crisis caused by closure of canals up to Jan 5 and erratic power supply.

He said during the emergency, the managing director of the Water and Sanitation Agency and all executive engineers would remain present at their offices from 8am to 11pm.

He said he himself would preside over daily meetings. He said complaint centres had been set up in three talukas of the Hyderabad city which would operate round-the-clock.

CITY NAZIM: City Taluka Nazim Moinuddin Shaikh has expressed concern over the shortage of water in Hyderabad and blamed the managing director of the Water and Sanitation Agency for it.

He was talking to delegations from different localities of the city which called on him at his office on Wednesday. He said the Wasa management should have made necessary arrangements in advance to meet any crisis. He said the closure of canals was an annual exercise and Wasa should have realized this fact.

SAB: The Sindhi Adabi Board here on Thursday announced that its quarterly journal "Mehran" had been published and it was available in the market.