KARACHI: Irked by the abrupt adjournment of the Friday sitting of the Sindh Assembly, lawmakers belonging to the opposition parties criticised the Pakistan Peoples Party government for not allowing them to raise the issue of sugar cane growers, and also warned the federal government that a ‘third force’ would intervene if it failed to pay attention to the issues of Sindh.

The opposition parties wanted to raise the issue of sugar cane growers, forcible occupation of forest land and reported cancellation of the revival of the Karachi Circular Railway project.Following the adjournment, the leaders of the opposition parties came outside the house and spoke to the media at the main entrance of the assembly.

Mr Mahar said that the opposition wanted to raise the issues of sugar cane growers and forcible occupation of the forest land when health minister Jam Mehtab Dahar was responding to the questions on the wheat procurement policy during the question-hour. The minister was asked a supplementary question about the plight of the care growers as the sugar mills were not buying sugar cane at the official rate of Rs182 per 40 kilograms, he added.

Accompanied by Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan, former chief ministers Liaquat Jatoi and Arbab Ghulam Rahim and others, the leader of the opposition said: “We also wanted to raise the issue of occupation of forest lands across the province, including Sujawal and Thatta districts, by displacing families living there for the past 20 to 25 years.”

He said under the rules, the piece of land ought to be allotted to local residents but now the same was being allotted to the people of the ruler’s own choice and until now over 100,000 acres were already allotted.

Syed Ejaz Shirazi of the PML-N said that the chief conservator of forest was sent to prison because he failed to provide more forest land to the rulers.

He said that the Thatta-Sujawal bridge on the Indus was opened for traffic only to benefit influential sugar mill owner Anwar Majeed.

He expressed his helplessness despite being part of the party ruling at the centre, saying “the prime minister has no time for the people of Sindh”.

MQM’s Khwaja Izhar regretted over the abrupt adjournment of the session and said that the deputy speaker ought to listen to the opposition with tolerance as it was their constitutional right to raise the public problems in the house.

He said that the opposition wanted to raise the issue of sugar cane growers and “we also wanted to ask the government as to why the KCR project was cancelled which is a great injustice with the people of Karachi”.

Mr Jatoi of the PML-N said that the house proceedings were not being carried in accordance with the rules of business. “We being opposition members come to the assembly to raise pressing issues of the people but we were not being allowed to discuss them as the ruling party was running away from realities.”

Dr Arbab Rahim also complained that he was trying to raise the issue of sugar cane growers but the opposition was not allowed to speak in the house.

He was critical to the attitude of the prime minister who instead of directing the provincial government to pay attention to the issues of growers was taking refuge in the provincial autonomy.

“If the federal government would not intervene, the third force would have to come in,” he warned.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2015

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