Bilawal likens Sindh island authority ordinance to Modi’s Aug 5 move

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that his party will strongly oppose the "illegal annexation" of Sindh's islands through a presidential ordinance by the PTI-led federal government.

President Dr Arif Alvi on September 1 promulgated the ordinance for establishing the Pakistan Islands Development Authority for the "development and management of islands in internal and territorial waters of Pakistan." The ordinance, which emerged on social media on Friday, stated, "Whereas the Senate and the National Assembly are not in session and the president of Islamic Republic is satisfied that circumstances exist, which render it necessary to take immediate action."

Its ultimate objective was stated to be the development of cities, specifically on Bhandar and Dingi islands off Karachi's shores.

"I ask how is this act any different to [Indian PM Narendra] Modi's actions in Occupied Kashmir? [This] move will be opposed in National, Provincial Assembly and the Senate," tweeted Bilawal on Monday.

Rejecting the ordinance, Sindh Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah also said in a statement that the islands belonged to the provincial government and Sindh's land could not be "occupied by any ordinance."

"The land of these islands belonged to the people of Sindh and it is rightfully theirs," he said, demanding the immediate revocation of the ordinance which negated the rights of the people of Sindh.

Nationalist leaders slam Centre

Meanwhile, Sindhi nationalist leaders, too, rejected the ordinance, calling for the federal government to rescind the law during a press conference at the Hyderabad Press Club.

Sindh Taraqqi Pasand (STP) party chairperson Dr Qadir Magsi condemned the 'forceful takeover' of Sindh's two islands, Bhandar and Dingi, by the Centre. "The people of Sindh have rejected the presidential ordinance. We will not tolerate unlawful occupation of the islands."

Magsi said his party will write to diplomats from the United States, China, Saudi Arabia and other countries to dissuade them from making investments in these islands, while also asking the Pakistan Peoples Party and other political parties to clarify their stance on the issue.

Magsi also appealed to the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) - a coalition partner in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led federal government - to play its part in the revocation of the ordinance. "The GDA should leave the coalition government if it cannot protect Sindh's land."

He said that the STP would organise province-wide protests against the ordinance on Tuesday and Wednesday, and on October 11, a protest rally will march to the Sindh Governor House in Karachi. "Islamabad should desist from anti-Sindh conspiracies. The people of Sindh should not be compelled to take refuge in the mountains and launch a movement for their liberation."

The STP leader further criticised the performance of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) during its intermittent rule in local bodies over the past three decades, asking how it could govern a province when it had failed in governing local bodies.

"Urdu-speaking people are brothers and sisters of the Sindhi people," he said, adding that the former would never become a part of MQM-P's conspiracy.

Meanwhile, GDA general secretary and president of the Qaumi Awami Tehreek Ayaz Latif Palijo argued that the ordinance was in conflict with Article 172 of the Constitution of Pakistan. "This is an illegal and unconstitutional ordinance which should be cancelled forthwith."

According to him, Article 172 clearly states that a province is owner of an unowned property in its territorial limits. He added that the sea limits within 22 kilometres from the shore are the property of the province.

Dingi and Bhandar islands are located in the province's territory, he said. "An act of robbing these islands will be considered a robbery from Sindh," he warned.

The GDA leader blamed the PPP-led Sindh government for pandering to the Centre's wishes in order to strike a deal for the corruption cases against the party's leadership.

Palijo said Sindhis have already been dismayed by the robbery of their water share, and on their coastal belt, and now their islands were under invasion. He advised people to prepare for a struggle for their provincial rights.

He blamed both the federal and the provincial governments for reacting with indifference to the plight of rain- and flood-affected people. "The people who had kept hopes from the PTI government should observe the Centre's response to the calamity in Sindh."

Awami Tehreek president Dr Rasool Bux Khaskheli said that the people of Sindh, through their peaceful political struggle, would decimate the dreams of those trying to occupy land in Sindh's territory or trying to carve out a new province. He argued that the act of establishing the islands authority was tantamount to robbing Sindh and Balochistan of their rights.