THATTA, Feb 2: The Sindh chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Syed Ghous Ali Shah, on Saturday declared that his party was bound to protect interests of Sindh and address all issues, including the Kalabagh dam project, in accordance with the wishes of the people of the province.

Speaking at a public meeting held at Makli Cooperative Housing Society in Makli, Mr Shah — who has held the offices of the defence minister (1990-1993) and Sindh chief minister (1985-1988) — said that the credit of clearing certain Sindh areas from dacoits went to the PML-N.

“A minimum of 15 to 20 innocent people are killed daily in Karachi and other parts of the province but the chief minister always insists that peace prevails in his province,” Mr Shah said, adding: “a state has been created within a state.” He observed that terrorism, nepotism and favouritism in Sindh were at their height.

He said his party had curbed crime and restored complete peace across the province but the policies of the present government created and widened the rural-urban divide through the dual local government system and other conspiracies.

Mr Shah said Pakistan People’s Party’s allies were unhappy over these conspiracies and the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional had already parted ways with it. He held out the assurance that PML-N would not allow the conspiracies against Sindh to succeed.

He said PML-N’s stance on the Kalabagh dam issue was very clear, adding that the project would be considered only if a consensus among all federating units was evolved.

The PML-N Sindh chief announced that Marvi Memon, who quit the National Assembly in protest against the government’s policies towards Sindh, would be contesting for the NA-237 seat in the upcoming general elections.

Mr Shah expressed his confidence that a large number of people from Sindh would travel to Islamabad to participate in the protest sit-in being organised by the PML-N outside the Parliament House against the government’s moves for new provinces without taking major political parties and federating units into confidence.Zain Ansari, Ghulam Hussain Shah, Marvi Memon and other PML-N leaders also spoke.