KARACHI, Oct 27: Leader of the opposition in Sindh Assembly Nisar Khuhro on Friday deplored the alleged move of the federal government to decide about provincial capital’s land use policy and termed it infringement of the provincial autonomy.

While blaming the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for manipulating this decision that had ingredients of division of the province, Mr Khuhro alleged that the prized land of Karachi and its coastline was being sold out to foreigners under the pretext of attracting foreign investment and developing infrastructure. But in this guise huge amount is being siphoned out of the country in the forms of kickbacks in shady deals, in which those who claim to be custodians of this city and of provincial autonomy, are playing a leading role, he added.

“What right the federal government has to decide how the city should be managed,” the PPP leader asked while criticising the reported decision allegedly taken by the prime minister during his recent visit to the metropolis.

He claimed that it amounted to reducing Sindh’s capital into a Federally Administered Territory and these acts had made the chief executive of the province a lame duck.

Mr Khuhro also claimed that the decision was result of the deal, MQM had struck following its “skirmishes” with the ruling PML (Q) and the deal was kept a secret from the people of Sindh, to facilitate the MQM.

The opposition leader in the Sindh assembly claimed that the MQM-led city government, which he said had demolished old goths and katchi abadis of Karachi, had been demanding control over the large tract of the Sindh’s land along the Super and National highways. That amounted to interfering in the domain of the chief minister who had preferred not to delegate this authority to anyone else. However, in order to provide a face saving to the MQM, he claimed, its benefactor in uniform formed a committee headed by the governor who was a non-elected agent of the federation under the military-led rule.

Mr Khuhro pointed out that the decision to strip the Sindh chief minister of his powers to decide about the land use of Karachi was taken after resistance from the provincial revenue department to what he termed a dubious deal for developing a modern city on the two islands off Bin Qasim Port.

Apparently the committee would focus on creating a modern mechanism through professional and participatory decision making; it does not include elected provincial legislatures.

Mr Khuhro was not opposed to coordination between various agencies or to a unified building control laws for the city government and the various cantonments and DHA, KPT etc, but was not supportive of the idea of giving the power of land use in Karachi to such agencies alone, stripping the provincial chief executive of his role in land use in the provincial capital.

“It seems that the rulers believe in two Sindh’s; one in which their interests were best served by making the MQM omnipotent and the other where the people oppose military rule and demand their due share in the NFC, water resources, employment opportunities, supremacy of the parliament and the constitution, independent election commission and transparent and free and fair elections,” said Mr Khuhro.

He accused the MQM of playing the role of agent provocateur and a collaborator and supporting dictators while the people were trying to remove them through their political mobilisation. Mr Khuhro said that in effect this unelected committee headed by the Sindh governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, would decide to whom the land of Karachi would be sold and under what conditions.

But in the whole process the chief minister would not be a part of it, though its member would include chief secretary and additional chief secretary for development and local government, the city nazim, finance and law secretaries, a member of the provincial land utilisation department, provincial police chief besides other stakeholders and DCO of the city government.

Mr Khuhro said that the issue would be raised by his party in the next month’s assembly session along with the issue of voters’ list discrepancy, lack of relief or the rehabilitation of rain-hit people of Sindh besides urging the assembly to adopt a resolution calling upon the Sindh government to demand of the federal government compensation for the losses suffered by the province due to short supply of water over the past several years.

He said that the opposition wanted the provincial assembly to resolve that just as withholding of hydro-electric profits of the NWFP was a clear violation of the constitution, the change of the procedure and formula for sharing water shortages specified under clause 4 (b) of the Inter-Provincial Water Accord 1991 was also a violation.