HYDERABAD: The day-long ‘Sindh National Conference – Threats and Challenges’ organised by the Sindh United Party (SUP) in a local hotel on Saturday adopted a set of resolutions calling for changing the policies that were weakening provinces’ bond with the federation and depriving Sindh of its rights and resources. It apprehended that Sindh’s remaining resources would also be taken away gradually if the policies continued to be pursued.

Leaders of a host of political and nationalist parties, as well as eminent analysts, economists, agriculture experts and civil society activists, expressed their views at the conference. They included Qaumi Awami Tehreek President Ayaz Latif Palijo, Awami Tehreek President Lal Jarwar, Grand Democratic Alliance Secretary General Safdar Abbasi, Jeay Sindh Mahaz-Riaz Chairman Riaz Chandio, Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party’s Hyder Shahani, Awami Jamhoori Party’s Lal Shah, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz Chairman Aslam Khairpuri, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl’s Taj Mohammad Nahiyoon, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional’s Rafiq Magsi, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Nazish Fatima, Prof Majeed Chandio, Zain Daudpota, Naseer Memon and Prof Mushtaq Mirani.

The resolutions adopted by the conference called for sovereignty for federating units in line with the 1940 Resolution; reviewing [the decision of setting up] the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC); handing over of the lands, previously given to federal government and not now in its use, to Sindh; shelving of all water projects and new canal projects connected with Indus; implementation of Article 172 of the Constitution to allow provinces to manage their [respective] natural resources; reviewing the Article 15 and 23 of the Constitution which allow settling of people anywhere in the country and repatriation of those settled after 1954; a transparent investigation into rigging in the Feb 8 general elections and punishment to responsible politicians; and revamping of Sindh police, judiciary and administrative units to ensure rule of law.

Presiding over the conference, SUP President Syed Zain Shah observed that the Feb 8 general elections had thrown new challenges to Sindh. There had been people, though a few, who had always been raising the ‘national question’ ever since inception of the country but, unfortunately, there was none in 2022 when Sindh government decided to hand over its authority to federal government, he remarked. He noted with concern that the Sindh Assembly had surrendered its authority by accepting SIFC, which was empowered to take decisions on certain provincial matters without seeking permission from provinces.

Participants oppose all projects detrimental to Sindh’s interests

He claimed that all cantonments had become commercial entities. He alleged that “establishment controls elections to bring selected people and parties [to power]”. He also claimed that there was evidence that people were told to join PPP, MQM-P or PML-N.

GDA secretary general Safdar Abbasi agreed with a speaker, academic Inam Sheikh, that PPP had established a vicious circle and Sindh’s institutions had been destroyed. In the last 15 years, no qualitative change could be seen, he said. He pointed out that Asif Ali Zardari was not a neutral head of state because he still headed the Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarians.

AT chief Lal Jarwar said problems were being created for Sindhi people, who now ought to organise themselves. He deplored that Sindh’s lands had been doled out for corporate farming. The PPP government took decisions that undermined Sindh’s interests like the passage of maritime law.

QAT President Ayaz Palijo said Sindhi society needed self-introspection. He noted that people of Kandhkot-Kashmore, Shikarpur and Ghotki districts were fighting for survival. He claimed that the PPP was supported by federation, establishment and judiciary. “PPP is ready to hand over everything for powers,” he remarked.

JSM-R chairman Riaz Chandio said Sindh was heading to a point where it would lose its existence. He said Sindh’s resources were being usurped and its lands occupied in the name of projects bound to convert Sindhis into a minority within their own province. Karachi’s population figures showed that future results would put Sindhis into a minority permanently and this was being facilitated by PPP, he added.

Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) president Mahmood Nawaz Shah told the participants that people should think over whether the 18th Constitutional Amendment benefited Sindh in terms of agriculture sector, which was a 100pc devolved subject. In so many areas, there is no need for resources. This sector has rescued economy in difficult times like [Covid-19] pandemic.

In his concluding remarks, Syed Zain Shah said he foresaw an international agenda behind the Feb 8 general election results which had made Pakistan a laughing stock in the world.

He said the Indus River System Authority had failed to implement the 1991 Water Accord, and observed that the proposed amendment to the Irsa Act had become a challenge to Sindh. He apprehended that in the next 20 years, more lands would be given to the SIFC although it was a provincial subject. He deplored that Sindh’s collective ownership was being snatched, and feared that no voice would be raised in the Sindh Assembly against these “dangerous plans” which would, rather, be approved in a phased manner.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2024