KARACHI: Country’s integrity at stake, warns Mumtaz
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, June 18: Sindh Solidarity Council (SSC) has warned that the present status quo would only lead to further devastation of Sindh and may result in disintegration of the country.
In a statement issued on Tuesday Mr Mumtaz Bhutto, who heads the SSC, maintained that it was high time we recognized the fact that the nations constituting Pakistan could not continue to groan forever under the ‘oppressive’ centralized system.
“Pakistan, at present, is being held together at gunpoint. This has not worked in the past and cannot be expected to provide a lasting solution for the future. The country has broken up once on the very issue of unbalanced and unfair treatment of the component nations,” contended Mr Bhutto. The writ of state authority has totally collapsed in Sindh and there is no sign of government control visible anywhere, he said.
Mr Bhutto warned that if a quick and substantive constitutional change was not brought about and the nations were not given more powers promised in the Pakistan Resolution, the fragile threads binding this country together might snap.
He said that the root-cause of most maladies afflicting Sindh could be traced back to the non-compliance with the principles and objectives of the 1940 Pakistan Resolution.
“What has followed since is the imposition of a highly centralized federal system dominated by Punjab which had led to the dismemberment of the country. The worst sufferer of this system is Sindh which has been deprived of its own wealth in order to provide for others.
“Its earnings, land, businesses, jobs and even the right to rule has been taken away and conferred upon outsiders,” said Mr Bhutto adding that more than half the people in Sindh lived below the poverty line, deprived of all basic necessities of life including a roof over their heads and two square meals a day.
The formula for calculating the National Finance Commission Award is a perfect example of the injustices that have crippled Sindh, he maintained.
The SSC chief alleged that the formula, under which the NFC Award was assessed, reflected a deliberate tilt in Punjab’s favour at the expense of Sindh.
On the issue of water crisis, Mr Bhutto maintained that Sindh’s share of water was being used to cultivate lands in Punjab while Sindh had become barren. Only left-over water, mixed with industrial waste and poisonous pesticides from Punjab, is filtered down to Sindh.
The construction of Kalabagh dam and greater Thal canal would further exacerbate an already critical situation and hasten the complete devastation of Sindh, he warned. To him, the law and order situation in Sindh was far worse than anywhere else in Pakistan, resulting in panic all around.
