QUETTA, May 24: The Balochistan assembly adopted on Thursday an adjournment motion reflecting the government’s plan to build a seaport at Sonmiani.
During the debate on the motion, tabled by Leader of Opposition Kashkol Ali Baloch, law-makers from both sides of the divide said it was a plan to create a `Jinnahpur’ in the Sonmiani area.
Senior Minister Maulana Wasay informed the house that federal minister for Shipping Babar Ghori had asked the provincial government, in an official meeting, to allot half a million acres of land in Sonmiani at the rate of rupee an acre.
He accused the federal government of `abandoning’ the Gwadar port prior to its formal functioning because of international pressures since the United States was against any Chinese role in the region.
The minister said that President General Pervez Musharraf’s announcement about the Sonmiani port had created doubts and raised questions about government’s intentions. “Why is the government in such a hurry, despite the fact that the Gwadar port is yet not operational.”
Maulana Wasay alleged that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement wanted to merge the Sonmiani coastal belt into Karachi in order to carry out its programme of establishing `Jinnahpur’.
Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar presided over the session.
Deputy Speaker Muhammad Aslam Bhootani said that nobody was against progress, but Sonmiani was only 70kms from Karachi, while Gwadar was at a distance of 650kms. He said the people would strongly oppose the separation of Sonmiani from Lasbela.
Mr Bhootani said that Sonmiani was his constituency and its people had been voting for his family since 1970, electing them as MPA for seven consecutive terms. He added he would not hurt the feelings of his voters by allowing the separation of Sonmiani from Lasbela.
The deputy speaker referred to a statement of federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Saleem Saifullah that the National Assembly, by a simple majority, could merge a district of one province into another. He added that the Baloch and Pakhtun people would not allow Sonmiani to become a port resort city like Egypt’s Sharm Al Sheikh.
Minister for Gwadar Development Authority Sher Jan Baloch said the announcement to build a port at Sonmiani had affected work at the Gwadar port, adding that multi-national companies had stopped investing there.
Provincial ministers Maulana Faiz Muhammad and Maulana Abdur Rahim Bazai also criticised the federal government for floating the idea of a new port.
Mir Haider Jamali said the announcement about the Sonmiani port had diverted the attention of investors from Gwadar, adding that all policies should serve the interest of coming generations. Sher Zaman Rind and Basant Lal said that a committee comprising members from both sides of the house should be formed to look into various aspects of the plan for the new port.
Mr Kashkol Ali and other opposition lawmakers, Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal, Jan Muhammad Buledi, Sardar Azam Musakhel, Rehmat Baloch and Dr Shama Ishaq, severely criticised the Sonmiani port plan and said that outsiders from Karachi and Lahore would disturb the demographic balance of the area.
They said that Sonmiani was the brainchild of the MQM leadership which, they alleged, wanted to capture the coastal belt of Sindh and Balochistan to set up `Jinnahpur’.
Winding up the debate, Minister for Revenue Mir Asim Kurd Gello said that he disagreed with the opinion of opposition member on the plan. He said that the people of Gwadar and Sonmiani were not against construction of ports.
He said the opposition members were misleading the public by saying that the Gwadar port had been handed over to Singapore. He said the fact was that an experienced private firm of Singapore had been given the contract to manage it for a specified period of time. Mr Gello rejected apprehensions that the MQM was behind the plan for the new port and said that the president had hinted about the Sonmiani port during his speech at the inauguration ceremony of Gwadar port.
The adjournment motion was later turned into a resolution that was approved and adopted unanimously.
The speaker also admitted a joint adjournment motion tabled by the opposition relating to the Khuzdar hospital incident in which police had manhandled doctors. The motion will be discussed on Saturday.The house unanimously approved three resolutions moved by Abdul Majid Khan Achakzai, Rubina Irfan and Sardar Azam Musakhel about regularisation of contract employees of the agriculture department, allowances for pensioners and establishment of a tehsil in Musakhel district. The session was adjourned till Saturday.
