November 17, 2008	Monday	Ziqa'ad 18, 1429

HYDERABAD, Nov 16: The Sindh Democratic Forum has demanded that the Sindh government take loan from the international financial institutions to buy out the hugely profitable gas fields and run them on the basis of public-private partnership.

A meeting of the forum chaired by its convener Abrar Kazi pointed out that the 1935 India Act, which was the bedrock of the Constitution, had given control of natural resources to the people and provinces in which they were located but it was changed in the 1973 Constitution, giving their control to the federal government.

The meeting demanded amendments to the Constitution to give back control of natural resources to the provinces and welcomed the statement of prime minister that the Qadirpur gas field would not be privatised. People of Sindh were the lawful owners of all the resources of their land, the meeting stressed.

The Sindhi civil society considered it a great injustice that minerals and gas had been made a part of the federal subjects’ list, giving the federal government control over all natural resources, the forum observed.

About the proposal for breaking up Hyderabad into Hyderabad and Qasimabad, the forum reminded the Pakistan People’s Party government that PPP had promised before elections to restore old status of Hyderabad district but now under pressure from MQM and influence of Makhdooms of Hala, Naveed Qamar of Tando Mohammad Khan and Bachani of Tando Allahyar, PPP was reneging on its promise.

The meeting termed it a grave mistake to further break up Hyderabad and said that it would be disastrous and dangerous. The precedent would open doors to the division of Nawabshah, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur on ethnic lines and would forever keep people of Sindh divided, the meeting said.

The meeting demanded that the government undo legacy of Arbab Rahim government by restoring Hyderabad, Jacobabad, Larkana and five districts of Karachi.

The forum opposed the construction of flyovers in the city at Shahbaz Chowk, Latif Chowk, Giddu Chowk and Qasim Chowk and recalled that it had resisted their construction by sending letters to all government bigwigs but to no avail.

The residents of Qasimabad had now found out that the bridge at Latif Chowk had blocked their exit and entry rather than help ease traffic, the meeting claimed.

The forum claimed that the chief minister’s inspection team had reported that apart from being wrongly aligned, the two flyovers at Latif and Shahbaz Chowk had developed cracks even before completion of construction. The bridges were not only ugly they were also dangerous, the meeting said.

The meeting demanded that the Sindh government intervene even at this late stage and scrap the project and cautioned that the two projects as well as one in Latifabad had been built in haste and might lead to another tragedy like Sher Shah bridge in Karachi.

SCA: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture demanded on Sunday that the government should take action against the sugar mills which had not yet started crushing season in defiance of government writ.

The chamber leaders said at a meeting out of 29 sugar mills, only five had started crushing while the rest were still lying closed.

The meeting was presided over by Mir Murad Ali Talpur.