Sindh govt blames Centre for making island issue 'controversial'

The PTI-led government makes every important issue "controversial", Information Minister Sindh Nasir Hussain Shah said Thursday as he responded to the government's island ordinance.

The federal government on August 31 promulgated an ordinance to establish the Pakistan Islands Development Authority (PIDA) to develop and manage the islands in the internal and territorial waters of Pakistan.

The authority is being created to “initiate and maintain a continuous process of reclamation and urban planning and identify immovable properties and projects suitable for the development of schemes within the internal and territorial waters of Pakistan.”

Shah said that the PTI-led government was making a fuss on every important issue. "This matter could have been resolved smoothly, however, through an ordinance, they made it controversial like several other issues."

"This is why the Pakistan Democratic Movement will soon oust the government," Shah warned.

Reacting to an earlier press conference of Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi and Governor Sindh Imran Ismail, he said: "If you were the sons of Sindh, then you would not have voiced support for the island ordinance. Instead, you would have considered the suggestions and recommendations laid down by the Sindh government."

"You promulgated an ordinance and now are shifting the blame on us?" he said, adding that PPP talks about the country's development, and it was "always for the betterment of the people".

"If your progress would have been good so far, then we wouldn't have to import sugar and wheat," he said, responding to the Centre's claim of developing the islands.

Earlier in the day, addressing a press conference with Zaidi in Islamabad, Ismail said that the prime minister wants to build two new cities on the islands of Karachi.

"Bundal island will remain a part of Sindh," he said, adding: "150,000 jobs will be created and the income from the island will go to the Sindh government."

Ismail said that Prime Minister Imran Khan wants to see Bundal island emerge even better than Lahore's Ravi City and rejected the impression that it is a housing project. "The Bundal project will even leave the likes of Dubai behind."

The governor said that the city will be built under a comprehensive master plan keeping in view environmental concerns.

He also responded to concerns that the Centre is seeking to exert control over Sindh’s islands through the presidential ordinance by the PTI government. "It's not as if the island will be taken away to Islamabad," he said.

The Sindh governor said that the provincial government would be taken into confidence while building the island city.