The government of Pakistan has constituted a high-level committee, headed by federal minister for inter-provincial co-ordination and comprising the four provincial fisheries ministers and secretaries, to seek permanent solution to the longstanding Sir Creek dispute with India.
Making a statement under Rule 215 in the Sindh Assembly on Thursday, Inter-Provincial Minister Makhdoom Jameel-uz-Zaman questioned the role of Pakistani forces, particularly the navy, with regard to Indian navy's 'aggression' against the local fishermen at Sir Creek.
Further, despite the elapse of four years at least 20 defaulting sugar mills of the province have failed to clear the Sindh government's outstanding dues of over Rs 55.145 million on account of sugarcane development cess.
The members in the provincial legislature, which was brought to order by Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro at around 11:50am at Sindh Assembly Building, also protested and demanded appropriate action against the administration of Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) for what they called it 'mismanaging' the conduct of examinations.
OATH TAKING The Sindh Assembly, which is said to have been reassembled to complete its 70-day-sitting during a parliamentary year completing on April 4, also witnessed Speaker Nisar Khuhro administering oath to the newly-elected members, Sadiq Memon and Mir Hassan Khosa.
After a huge round of felicitations, the two PPP leaders vowed to serve the province and its people amid the ear-splitting slogans of "Long Live Bhutto" from the visitors' gallery where silence is to be maintained whilst the assembly is sitting.
SIR CREEK ISSUE Latter, Sindh Inter-Provincial Minister Makhdoom Jameel-uz-Zaman making a policy statement under Rule 215 told the House that the federal inter-provincial co-ordination department in its March 4-5 meeting in the federal capital had constituted a committee to take up the issue of the arrest of local fishermen by Indian navy with New Delhi.
According to him, the committee would work to address the root causes of the problem that, he said, was the lingering dispute between India and Pakistan on the Sir Creek issue. "Why Pakistan army and navy do not take care of it... it's a serious aggression against our fishermen," Makhdoom asked.
His statement came after PPP lawmaker Humera Alwani, on a point of order, drew the House towards the arrest of some 177 fishermen at what she said an 'ill-defined' Indo-Pak sea border at Sir Creek point in Thatta. Demanding a clear demarcation of Indo-Pak border at Sir Creek, the PPP lawmaker said the move would help the poor fishermen avoid their daily arrests at the hands of Indian navy.
Later talking to Business Recorder the provincial minister said, "India always commits aggression against our fishermen... we have taken it up to the level of the Prime Minister." Makhdoom said he during the session had drawn attention of the chair towards the role of Pakistani armed forces who, he said, should act "tit-for-tat against the India highhandedness".
Giving further details of the committee, he said the body would be headed by Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Co-ordination Pir Aftab Shah Jilani with the federal secretary and ministers and secretaries of the four provinces being its members.
BSEK UNDER FIRE On another point of order, Shama Mithani voiced concern over the 'mismanagement' of the BSEK's administration in issuing admit cards to the metric students and the resultant students' agitation saying "this should never happen." Other members like Heer Soho, Jam Madad Ali and Marvi Rashdi also underlined various irregularities, ranging from copy culture to the closure of government schools in different provincial districts, in the education sector.
In response to this, Senior Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haque said the competent authority, Governor Sindh, had ordered an inquiry to fix the responsibility in the BSEK' examination matter. The minister said while many of the closed schools had been opened, his department had strictly ordered the concerned authorities to arrest and rusticate the teacher and student respectively if found guilty for cheating during the examinations.
DEFAULTING SUGAR MILLS During Question-Hour session, Minister for Agriculture Ali Nawaz Shah told the House that some 20 sugar mills had still not cleared dues of the Sindh government for the crushing seasons 2006-2007 and 2007-08. He said season-wise break up of the total outstanding dues, which the millers owed to the government on account of sugarcane development cess, was Rs 8,000,970 and Rs 47,144,685.36.
According to the list made available to Business Recorder the defaulting sugar mills include Army Welfare Sugar Mills Badin, Al-Noor Sugar Mills Moro, Ansari Sugar Mills Matti, Bawany Sugar Mills Talhar, Dewan Sugar Mills Budho Talpur, Dewan Khoski Sugar Mills, Digri Sugar Mills Khairpur, Kiran Sugar Mills Rohri, Larr Sugar Mills Sujawal, Matiari Sugar Mills, Najma Sugar Mills Jhudo, Pangrio Sugar Mills, Ranipure Sugar Mills, Sakrand Sugar Mills, Sanghar Sugar Mills, Seri Sugar Mills, Shahmurad Sugar Mills Jhoke Sharif, Tharparkar Sugar Mills Kot Ghulam Muhammad And T.M.K Sugar Mills Mohammad Khan.
"The management of sugar mills have now been directed to deposit the outstanding amount," says Annexure-B quoting minutes of a meeting held on January 21, 2008 under the chairmanship of CM regarding sugarcane prices and other related issues.
LG (SECOND AMENDMENT) BILL As expected, Law Minister Ayaz Soomro laid before the House the Sindh Local Government (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2010. After this the speaker announced the Sindh governor's assent to the Commecs Institute of Business and Emerging Sciences Bill, 2009, the Agricultural Product Markets (Amendment) Bill, 2009 and the Sindh Public-Private Partnership Bill, 2010.
Also, the law minister laid before the House the report of Auditor General of Pakistan on the accounts of government of Sindh for the years 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 (Draft Paras and Revenue Receipts). The speaker called it a day as soon as Soomro took the nod from the House through moving a motion for the reference of the report to the Public Accounts Committee of the assembly and called to meet again today (Friday) at 9am.
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