Sindh Democratic Forum has hailed the announcement of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that Qadirpur Gas Fields would not be privatised. The forum in its meeting held on Friday with its convenor Abrar Kaz in the chair, discussed and mulled the issues of Qadirpur gas fields privatisation; further bifurcation of Hyderabad; and the overhead bridges being built in Hyderabad City.
In a statement it said that in fact the people of Sindh were the lawful owners of all the resources of their motherland and they were deeply resentful of any moves by the government to sell-off the natural resources of their homeland, that will further deprive them of the right to benefit from the wealth belonging to them and the employment generated by such wealth.
The Sindhi civil society considers it a great injustice that mineral and gas has been made a part of the federal legislature list, giving the federal government control over the resources. In the India Act 1935, which is the bedrock of our constitution, all natural resources were the property of the people and provinces in which the resources were located, it added.
However, the forum said, was changed in the 1973 Constitution, giving the control to the federal government. The Forum demands that the Sindh government should arrange necessary loan from International Financial Institutions (IFIs), and buy the hugely profitable gas fields and to run it on the basis of public-private partnership.
About the proposal floated by some quarters further bifurcate Hyderabad district into Hyderabad and Qasimabad districts, the Forum wishes to remind the Peoples Party government that before elections the Peoples Party had promised to restore the old Hyderabad district but now because of MQM's pressure and influence of Makhdooms of Hala, Naveed Qamar of T.M. Khan and Bachani of Tando Allayar, the PP is reneging on its promise and the mandate given to it by the people.
It was a huge mistake to break Hyderabad district. But it will be disastrous if Hyderabad is further broken into two, it added. This dangerous precedent will open the doors to the division of Nawabshah, Mirpurkhas and Sukker cities on ethnic lines and will forever divide the people of Sindh, it opined.
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