Centre’s custody of islands: Sindh takes U-turn on its letter

KARACHI: Succumbing to the pressure of civil society and nationalist political parties, the Sindh government Tuesday did a U-turn on its July 6, 2020 letter in which its Land Utilization Department had consented to the federal government to take custody of some of the islands for launching mega commercial and housing schemes.

It was after the provincial government’s consent that President Dr Arif Alvi promulgated the Islands Development Authority Ordinance 2020 on August 31. Under the ordinance, the federal government took the custody of some islands, which legally were the provincial property, to launch mega commercial and housing schemes.

While taking the U-turn, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah chaired a provincial cabinet meeting at the Chief Minister’s House on Tuesday in which the ordinance was unanimously rejected and the federal government was asked to immediately withdraw it.

Ministers, advisers, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah and secretaries concerned attended the meeting. Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh attended the meeting through the video link.

The cabinet was given a detailed briefing on the ordinance. The cabinet members said the ordinance was against the Constitution of Pakistan that established the provincial governments’ownership of the lands, islands and land in the sea located within its territorial jurisdiction.

The cabinet said the ordinance had been promulgated in such a way as if the islands were the federal government’s property. It said the provincial government had laid down some parameters for development, including the islands, which would remain the provincial government’s property.

The Sindh government also laid out a condition that the terms and conditions of development projects on the islands would be shared with the provincial government and the interest of local population would be safeguarded.

The cabinet said the ordinance, setting aside the conditions set by the Sindh government, declared the islands located in the territorial jurisdiction of Sindh and Balochistan as the federal government property.

The provincial cabinet said the ordinance was an attempt to trample upon the rights of the people of Sindh. The cabinet decided to write a letter to the federal government with insistence to withdraw the ordinance, denying the provincial government and people of their constitutional rights.

According to political observers, the Pakistan People’s Party came under huge pressure from the civil society and nationalist political parties over delay in taking a decision on the ordinance forcing it to make a U-turn. The ordinance was kept secret and came on the scene when an advertisement of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs was published in different newspapers and uploaded on the ministry’s website, announcing the post of chairman of the Authority.

It is obvious that prior to the outcry by the civil society and nationalist political parties, the Sindh government had given its consent to the federal government on the issue as was obvious from the July 6, 2020 letter.

Actually, the PPP despite becoming a part of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) did not want to annoy the “powerful circles” to keep its government in Sindh intact and extract some concessions for its leadership in NAB cases but public pressure compelled it to take a U-turn on its decision.

In their October 3 meeting in Karachi, the civil society in Karachi decided to strongly resist the move and the next day the twitter trend opposing the ordinance reached around 200,000. The women wing of Sindhi nationalist party Awami Tehreek also took out a rally in Karachi on October 4. Besides, anti-ordinance rallies were also held in many towns by the civil society and nationalist parties.

The Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party will also stage a sit-in in front of the Governor’s House on October 11 with the support of almost all nationalist parties and the JUI-F Sindh chapter.

In order to expose the Sindh government on the issue, Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Ali Zaidi hit back at the PPP leadership, claiming that the Sindh government had given its consent in July this year for a construction project on Bundal Island.

In a tweet, Zaidi said the federal government did not take any unconstitutional step and shared the notification of the PPP-led provincial government purportedly showing approval of construction project on Bundal Island by the Sindh's Land Utilization Department.

“The cat is out of the bag. All can see how hypocritical PPP leadership is. No unconstitutional steps have been taken on Bundal Island. Attached is a letter dated July 2020 issued by the Sindh Govt,” he wrote in a tweet.

Zaidi also claimed that the island’s area fell in the jurisdiction of Port Qasim Authority (PQA) which worked under the federal government. “In pursuance of the said request made by the federal government, the provincial cabinet has decided to make land available to the federal government, as per law,” read the notification shared by the federal minister on his Twitter handle.

Defending the provincial government, Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said the islands were, are and will remain the property of Sindh. He said the province did not desire any development in which its people were not involved and which was without the Sindh government's approval.

"We will not allow any action that seeks to usurp Sindh's rights and land and could harm the local population," he said while talking to reporters. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari strongly reacted to the passing of presidential ordinance, equating it with the illegal annexation of Indian-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) by New Delhi.