KARACHI, Dec 27: Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly, Nisar Khuhro on Wednesday slammed the government for imposing its will on Sindh and other smaller provinces with regard to the Kalabagh dam and issues of provincial autonomy, which were a matter of life and death for them.
He was reacting to the statement of the Punjab chief minister who had stated at a public rally that those who were opposed to the Kalabagh dam were enemies of the state. He said such statements , which had been made with more vigour and contempt for the rights and views of other federating units of Pakistan, after General Pervez Musharraf declared at a public meeting in Khanewal that the Kalabagh dam would be built at all costs.
He also alleged that the regime was not honest in giving full provincial autonomy to the federating units and was trying to negotiate it separately with each province. He said such an exercise was aimed at perpetuating the dictatorship and its henchmen.
Mr Khuhro was of the view that constitutional amendment was required for giving this much-delayed right to the provinces and no individual or the present government of turn-coats had the moral or legal right to impose another formula on the people. He said that only a freely elected and independent parliament was empowered to make such an amendment.
He apprehended that such a package was likely to be unfolded in the present National Assembly before the next general election to get the army chief re-elected as president in uniform and also impose the new constitutional amendment that would eventually change the governance from parliamentary to presidential form.
Mr Khuhro regretted that the general and his cronies were making this statement despite the fact that Sindh and the NWFP had passed resolutions against the KBD. Mr Khuhro alleged that those who were acting in such a manner were the actual enemies of the federation and wanted to turn Sindh into a wasteland and ruin the life, economy and culture of the people of Sindh.
He said the regime’s policy was equally against the interests of the vast majority of Punjab and such promises were only being made by the present rulers to manipulate their votes in the coming elections.
The general, he said, wanted himself to be reflected in uniform for which the Chuadhris had made the KBD’s construction a quid pro quo. But he declared that the people of Sindh and Punjab would not let the usurpers hoodwink them and endanger the federation.
He also criticised Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Rahim for allegedly bartering away Sindh’s rights and interests on many issues including those connected with the NFC, water accord, and recently with regard to the ownership and disposal of the two islands near Port Qasim. The manner in which the federal government had acted in this regard only reflected how it treated the provincial government.
He said the regime was selling off everything in the name of privatisation and inviting foreign direct investment without ensuring the emergence of domestic entrepreneurship. It amounted to selling off the country’s sovereignty, he said.
Mr Khuhro also criticised the economic policies of the Sindh government and pointed out that out of a budget of 193 billion in the current fiscal, the government was spending 139 billion on revenue expenditure, leaving merely 42 billion for development.
The Sindh government was also criticised demolishing villages, and decreasing spending on housing by over 900 per cent, bringing it down from 6.5 billion rupees in 2005-06 to merely 715 billion rupees in 2006-07. This, he said, was a clear manifestation of the fact that the social sector was on low priority of the regime and the statements in this regard were mere eyewash.
