KARACHI: The issue of Sindh division continued to haunt the general discussion on the provincial budget for the year 2016-17 on its sixth day, as most of the lawmakers who got the opportunity on Wednesday to speak on the budget touched the sensitive issue of division while two opposition members refuted the claims about budget being people-friendly.

The session, which was called to order at around 11.15am, was adjourned by Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani without the speeches of leader of the opposition Khwaja Izharul Hasan and senior minister Nisar Khuhro in the wake of the killing of renowned qawwal Amjad Sabri in Liaquatabad.

Two members from the opposition benches — Nand Kumar Goklani of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional and Muhammad Hussain of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement — had come prepared to the session to refute the claims of the treasury benches. They accused the government of rampant corruption in every department. Quoting figures from the budget documents, the lawmakers said that despite increasing allocation for development schemes there had been no visible change on the ground for the past nine years.

Referring to the issue of Sindh division, four ministers Manzoor Wasan, Mumtazani, Gayan Chand Israni and Jam Khan Shoro, PPP lawmaker Sarfraz Shah and PML-F Parliamentary Party leader Nand Kumar Goklani said Sindh is an entity “which can never be divided and its bifurcation will never be acceptable to the people”. Two other ministers Dr Sikander Mandhro and Dr Jam Mehtab Dhar, however, restricted their speeches to highlight the need to live to the spirit and tradition of Sindh in the atmosphere of affinity and love with each other.

Dr Mandhro, who is minister for coastal development, said the budget had been framed according to some basic principles. He said the criticism about it being a deficit budget was not justified. He said the government had achieved its targets of revenue and had taken specific measures for the development of its coastal areas.

He said Sindh is the land of Sufi Shah Latif Bhittai whose message is that of love and affinity. He said Karachi was the capital of Sindh and its development was much dear to the government as the development of villages. The rural and urban parts of Sindh could not survive without each other, he said, advising the opposition members to learn to respect each other and live like brothers.

Health minister Jam Mehtab Husain Dahar said the main cause of uproar in the house was the sense of deprivation in the wake of Rangers-led operation and the emergence of Mustaf Kamal-led Pak Sarzameen Party.

He said their party believed in reconciliation but it should never be taken as their weakness. He said they were son of the soil.

Earlier, PPP lawmaker Syed Sarfaraz initiating the discussion on Wednesday said that power shortage issue could be solved in rural areas by solar energy but minimum funds were allocated for it in the budget.

Responding to the advices of lawmakers from the other side of the aisle, MQM lawmaker Muhammad Hussain said that the budget of PPP government had disappointed the people who were still deprived of power, water, health and education facilities. The cities and rural areas were destroyed during the past eight years.

He said: “We are asked not to talk about a new province. My contention is that you stop injustices and prejudice treatment in the cities of Sindh.” He said citizens were being discriminated against in recruitment.

He said that not a single scheme had been marked for any urban area in foreign-funded projects. Even the schemes which were announced for Karachi were dropped, he said. He asked how many of the secretaries, commissioners, deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners were Urdu-speaking. He said not a single public-sector university was established in any urban area. Yet the citizens of Karachi were asked to demonstrate loyalty with Sindh, he added.

He said he did not like the division of Sindh but during the last century 200 countries emerged on the map. “These countries were not created on the basis of the like or dislike, but because of exploitation and injustices meted out to the people,” he said.

He said Pakistan was created but then Bangladesh emerged. “If you want to block division of Sindh, you stop exploitation, injustices and prejudiced treatment,” he said.

The house was supposed to conclude the general discussion on the budget on Wednesday but could not make it, as leader of opposition Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hassan informed the chair about the killing of Qawwal Amjad Sabri and requested him to adjourn the session till Thursday morning.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2016