KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Monday unanimously approved renaming of two private universities named after the London-based founder of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Altaf Hussain, in Karachi and Hyderabad.

In December 2014, the Sindh Assembly unanimously approved the charter to set up the two private universities in Karachi and Hyderabad to be financed by a trust founded by real estate tycoon Malik Riaz.

On Monday, two separate bills to amend the Altaf Hussain University Act, 2014 were tabled in the assembly by Senior Parliamentary Affairs Minister Nisar Khuhro to change the nomenclature of both the universities.

The MQM, which had parted ways with Mr Hussain following his Aug 22 anti-Pakistan speech, also supported the two bills.

With the unanimous passage of the two amendment bills, the two universities in Karachi and Hyderabad have been named after Abdul Sattar Edhi and Mohtarma Fatimah Jinnah, respectively.

The bills were introduced and taken up for consideration after conclusion of the order of the day.

Mr Khuhro said that the Altaf Hussain University bills were approved by the assembly as it was an old tradition to make legislation for setting up universities for promotion of higher education so that the youths could play a positive role in society.

He said that Mr Hussain had proudly said that he was a British citizen and also waved his British passport before the media. He also refused to give recognition to Pakistan so in this situation, it was not possible to name an institution after a person who did not agree to the existence of the country, he added.

He said that recently another statement of Mr Hussain was reported in the media in which he again badmouthed Pakistan.

He said if anyone was conspiring against the country or was against the state, how was it possible that any institution should be in their name.

Apparently endorsing his views, MQM lawmaker Faisal Sabzwari recalled the sacrifices of those who migrated to Pakistan after partition and then from East Pakistan.

He said that the MQM would make no bargain on the honour of the country, but regretted that despite their clear position the loyalty of the Mohajir community was being doubted.

He stressed the need for taking everyone along for the betterment of the country so that no one could complain in future that the Mohajirs were maltreated.

Clarifying that the two institutions were in fact private universities, he demanded that the Sindh government announce a public-sector university in Hyderabad.

Pakistan Muslim League-Functional and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf lawmakers Mehtab Akbar Rashdi and Khurram Sherzaman welcomed the renaming of the two universities.

Concerns over acute water shortage

The Sindh Assembly expressed its deep concern over acute shortage of water in the province, which would affect the agriculture, livestock and overall economy of Sindh, and recommended to the government to approach the federal government to take strong note of the situation and direct the authorities concerned to redress the grievance of the province immediately.

The assembly also requested the federal government to use diplomatic resources and its influence for safe and secure release of a Pakistani engineer kidnapped in South Sudan.

The house, which met at 3pm with Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani in the chair, unanimously adopted two resolutions tabled by Nawab Taimur Khan Talpur and Dr Sikander Mandhro of the PPP.

Speaking on the resolution pertaining to water shortage, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah recalled that he already had drawn attention of the federal government towards acute irrigation water shortage last week but got no response so far.

He said that he was going to requisition a meeting of the Council of Common Interests, which according to the Constitution ought to meet after every three months.

Recalling the background of the water shortage, he said that the authorities did not fill the Tarbela and Mangla dams, which had triggered the water shortage in Sindh.

He asked the opposition parties in the assembly to talk about the whole province as the unanimous adoption of the resolution on water would strengthen his position and he would take up this issue with the federal government more effectively.

Mr Talpur highlighted the importance of the resolution and said that due to water shortage the entire agriculture sector was affected and tail-enders were not getting any water, even for their livestock.

He said it was the responsibility of the federal government to provide Sindh its due share of water. He asked the Sindh government to approach the federal government to ask it to supply excess water from Punjab to Sindh.

Ms Rashdi of the PML-F, Fayyaz Butt of the PPP, Mr Akhtar and Deewan Chand Chawla of the MQM also endorsed the resolution which reads: “This assembly resolves and recommends to the Government to approach the Federal Government to take strong note of the acute shortage of water for irrigation in the province. Such an acute shortage is going to affect the agriculture, livestock and overall economy of the province.

“Keeping in view the government [should] direct the concerned authorities to redress the grievances of Sindh immediately.”

The resolution tabled by Dr Mandhro regarding release of Pakistani Engineer Ayaz Jamali recommended to the Sindh government to approach the federal government to use diplomatic resources and influence for safe and secure release of Mr Jamali of Badin from the captivity of his kidnappers in South Sudan.

Besides adopting the two bills to rename Altaf Hussain University, five amendment bills — The Sindh Revenue Board Bill, The Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences, The Sindh Development and Maintenance of Infrastructure Cess Bill, The Sindh Coal Authority Bill and The Sindh Shaheed Recognition and Compensation Bill — were also tabled by Minister Khuhro.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2017