HYDERABAD: Former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf who now heads his All-Pakistan Muslim League (APML) has declared that he will return to Pakistan on March 23 and claimed that people of Sindh will accord him a warm welcome.

Addressing on phone from Dubai a gathering of a few thousand supporters gathered at a ground off the Super Highway here on Sunday, Mr Musharraf said Pakistan was passing through a critical phase in its history.

“The country faces extremism, poverty and an economic crisis and the poor are suffering. We have to rectify the situation and had to more than just praying. We will have to work together.”

He spoke for about 20 minutes, mostly recounting the development projects launched by his government in Sindh's water sector. These projects were meant for good of the people and had never been taken up previously, he said. In this connection, he mentioned the Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD), Reni Canal, Sukkur barrage's repair and Poverty Alleviation Programme launched in Tharparkar and coastal districts of Badin and Thatta.

Speaking a few sentences in Sindhi he expressed delight that people had gathered there despite police attempts to stop them.

He criticised what he termed the attempts made to sabotage his first public meeting since the creation of APML and said Nawaz Sharif's rally in Faisalabad was being guarded by thousands of policemen. “It is not democracy. There was real democracy under my government when I gave freedom to all political parties,” he said.

Mr Musharraf said repressive measures would only serve to prepare APML activists to cope with adversaries. “I expect you to be ready to face such tactics. You must have ability to confront any situation,” he said.

He criticised local police for not cooperating with the APML. “You [police] should be ashamed because I had raised your salaries,” he said.

He said he took pride in his association with Sindh and said that after he took over power in 1999 there was a drought in Sindh in 2000. He had launched projects of billions of rupees in Sindh, especially in Tharparkar, Mithi, Chhore, Umerkot and other areas to help people fight the calamity.

His administration, he said, had lined 30,000 watercourses in Sindh to stop wastage of irrigation water and ensure availability of water in Badin and Thatta districts.

“I got 5,000 cusecs extra water for Sindh and the Punjab province in sympathy with Sindh readily agreed to provide 5,000 cusecs,” he said.

He said that when he was informed about Sindh's grievances with regard to disposal of effluent from Punjab and Balochistan into Indus and Manchhar Lake “we conceived the RBOD [right bank outfall drain] at a cost of Rs30 billon to take that waste water to the Arabian Sea”.

The waste water was flowing into Manchhar, displacing fishing communities and killing several people who consumed the contaminated water. “I hope Manchhar lake is saved now and the fishing families who had migrated from the lake area must have returned,” he said.

Mr Musharraf claimed that Reni canal was built at a cost of Rs8 billion. Sukkur barrage was about to collapse when his government decided to repair it. “Had the barrage been rendered non-functional it would have made your fertile land barren,” he said.

He said that people belonging to minority community in Tharparkar were provided electricity and water. “Before I return I want banners and posters of APML should be displayed all over Sindh,” he said.

He said he hoped people who had gathered there would turn up again to receive him on his return.

APML leaders Ahmed Raza Kasuri, Dr Gholam Mujtaba, Ghulam Mustafa Khaskheli of the All Sindh Khaskheli Ittehad and Alhaj Shamim also addressed the gathering. They claimed that police had tried to sabotage the public meeting by stopping their processions.