• Says national prosperity depends on advancement of Sindh and other provinces
• Inaugurates NED-affiliated Thar Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology

MITHI: Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said “certain forces” want to usurp provincial rights as part of a well-planned conspiracy aimed at centralising all powers and resources in Islamabad.

“Under a calculated agenda and conspiracy, certain forces seek to undermine provincial rights and seize control over resources, using the baseless pretext that the Sindh government or smaller provinces have failed to deliver and that all authority and resources should therefore be centralised in Islamabad,” he said while speaking at the inauguration of the NED University-affiliated Thar Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology and the School of Modern Sciences in the desert region on Wednesday.

“From time to time, a deliberate and organised campaign is launched to malign not only Tharparkar but the entire province. Tharparkar itself stands as the strongest rebuttal to this false narrative, clearly demonstrating how the district has undergone a visible transformation in development after the 18th Amendment,” he said.

He said the development of Tharparkar was inseparable from Pakistan’s overall progress, stressing that national prosperity depended on the advancement of Sindh and all four provinces.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari described the educational institutions as a gift from the Sindh government to the people of Tharparkar.

He paid tribute to the people of the district for their longstanding support for the PPP and its leadership, saying the party had consistently stood with Thar through practical development initiatives.

Referring to the Thar coal reserves, the PPP chairman said the resource belonged to the people of Tharparkar and compared its scale to Saudi Arabia’s oil wealth. He said earlier attempts to utilise the resource had been thwarted by conspiracies, including during the tenure of Benazir Bhutto.

He said the Thar coal project had triggered both economic and social change, providing electricity to industrial centres such as Faisalabad while transforming living conditions in the desert region.

He noted that areas once devoid of basic health facilities now had dispensaries, basic health units and hospitals, alongside new road networks.

He said a share of profits from the coal project was channelled into the Thar Foundation to fund social welfare initiatives, including hospitals being run in public private partnership with Indus Hospital.

The PPP chairman said the establishment of an NED University campus in Tharparkar had been a longstanding demand of local youth and that work on the project began in 2019.

He added that the Sindh chief minister had assured the campus would be upgraded to a university before the end of the government’s term.

Highlighting the PPP government’s focus on social sectors, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said the number of universities in Sindh had doubled under PPP administrations, with further growth when campuses were included. He said similar progress had been made in healthcare and power generation wherever the party had governed.

The PPP chief expressed satisfaction over the strong presence of female students at the Thar campus, calling it a realisation of Benazir Bhutto’s vision of equal educational opportunities for women.

He also welcomed students from Gilgit-Baltistan studying at the institute, saying it reflected Sindh’s inclusive approach.

Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said Tharparkar had undergone a visible transformation under successive PPP governments, adding that the desert region now stood at the centre of Sindh’s development vision.

He said the Sindh government put in place an investment framework that led to rapid infrastructure development. “Today, the journey from Karachi to Thar can be completed in about four hours, while air travel has reduced it to 20 to 25 minutes,” he said.

Provincial Minister for Universities and Boards Muhammad Ismail Rahoo, PPP lawmaker Mahesh Malani, NED University Vice Chancellor Dr Tufail Jokhio and others also attended the event.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2026