Sindh rejects islands development authority

KARACHI: The Sindh government on Monday formally rejected the move by the federal government to establish the Pakistan Islands Development Authority through a presidential ordinance and demanded the central government to immediately withdraw it.

In a statement issued on Monday, Sindh Information and Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that the two islands off the coast of Karachi were under the ownership of the Sindh government. “They belong to Sindh and the people of Sindh have the right to them,” said the information minister.

“We reject any plan for development, which will take place at the expense of the local people,” he said and added that the local fishermen and the people of local communities alone have the right to these islands.

He said that the newly-promulgated presidential ordinance would trample the provincial autonomy and also usurp the rights of the local people. “It is the demand of the Sindh government to immediately withdraw this ordinance,” he said. The PPP also opposed the attempt on the part of the federal government to occupy the islands off the coast of Karachi through the promulgation of a presidential ordinance.

In a statement, PPP Sindh Information Secretary Senator Aajiz Dhamrah said that they would never support any such ordinance. “The Pakistan People's Party believes in provincial but the Council is being run without a president and vice president and in the meantime, instructions were issued to conduct of MDCAT (Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test) exams at national level which has creating mayhem.

She further said MDCAT policy condition cannot be implemented for the 2020-21 admissions and suspending the National Examination Board (NEB) exam have left many in the health profession in a dilemma. Under this act, MDCAT exam will be designed by the federal government based on the federal curriculum, she said and added that each province has its own boards and its own curriculum and this will put students appearing from the provinces at a disadvantage.

“Furthermore, last year the closing percentage for exams was 93% in Punjab while in Sindh it was 73%. A difference of 20% which was even higher for the other smaller provinces would indicate that 20% of Sindh’s private sector seats and a higher number in the other smaller provinces will be filled by the students from Punjab. This clearly violates the rights for opportunities for people of smaller provinces”, she added.

Claiming that PMC Act 2020 will be a disaster for smaller provinces as it allows private sector medical colleges and Universities to admit students irrespective of their domiciled province. “In Sindh around 5000 doctors pass out every year but this number is still not enough for the province. Around 2500 doctors graduate from public sector universities who will be allowed to observe the provincial domicile policy however a larger number approximately 2700 doctors graduate through our private universities in Sindh. As there is no domicile bar for private institutions under this legislation, most of the seats in Sindh in the private sector will be filled by the students from Punjab, who will obviously return to serve in their home province causing a shortage of doctors in Sindh” she added.

On the other hand, It is unfortunate that the medical fraternity is suffering due to discontinuation of PMDC, that is why all doctors across Pakistan had demanded Prime Minister Imran Khan to restore the PMDC.