SUKKUR: Sindh Assembly Speaker Syed Owais Qadir Shah has said Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s proposals of dividing Sindh or imposing governor’s rule in the province would not be welcomed by people.
“We are not even prepared to listen to the talk of Sindh’s division on any lines,” Mr Shah told media personnel in Saleh Pat town, where he had gone to attend a ceremony to pay tribute to martyrs of Karsaz tragedy.
He categorically stated that Mr Naqvi’s proposals were unacceptable to the PPP leadership and people of Sindh. He said there could be no compromise on the province’s integrity.
He said that the Sindh Assembly had already passed a resolution opposing a division of the province. “Sindh’s case should not be compared with that of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he said, and argued: “The law and order in Sindh is better than in any other province of the country”.
Responding to a question about street protests, Mr Shah said holding a peaceful protest is a democratic right of every citizen.
However, he added, protesters should avoid the acts that could create a law and order situation or cause hardship to other people.
‘AT to resist moves against Sindh’
Awami Tehreek (AT) leaders on Sunday condemned PPP MNA Javed Shah Jillani’s statement suggesting a ‘compromise’ on handing over the Karachi Port and coastal belt under federal control.
The leaders, Lal Jarwar, Raheel Bhutto, Umrah Samoon and others, held a press conference in the party’s office in Hyderabad to criticise PPP’s policy on the issue. They alleged that the PPP leadership was acting as a “facilitator for the establishment to protect its powers at the expense of Sindh’s interests”.
The party said that a campaign was being orchestrated through pro-establishment political figures and owners of selected media houses to pave the way for Sindh’s division and gain control of its lands, assets and resources, including water, ports, coastline and Karachi.
They said these moves threatened Sindh’s existence as well as integrity of the country. They deplored that PPP facilitated corporate farming, supported controversial canals and endorsed disputed digital census figures.
“The Sindh government allows the MQM-P to hold rallies for new provinces while restricting peaceful protests against a division of Sindh,” they deplored. The AT leaders also expressed their concern over possibility of ‘emergency’ to be imposed in Sindh “to take away Sindh’s coastal areas, right from Karachi to Keti Bandar, Thatta, Sujawal and Badin”.
They said the AT was intensifying its campaign against all such moves. Seminars would be held in district headquarters, bringing together intellectuals, writers, poets, journalists, lawyers, farmers, students and labour leaders to highlight and condemn these moves, they said.
Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2026
