‘New city must be populated next to Karachi’

A new city needs to be populated next to Karachi, claimed Sindh Governor Imran Ismail on Friday, as controversy over the development of Bhandar and Dingi islands, off the port city’s shore, continues.

The governor was visiting former prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan’s grave at the Mazar-e-Quaid on his death anniversary.

“There is no employment for fishermen on Bhandar island and so the [federal] government plans to set up a fish harbour there for them,” he stated, adding that the Sindh government had not yet been consulted on this matter.

Over the past few weeks, the tussle between the federal and Sindh governments has intensified, both unwilling to withdraw from their position on developing cities on the isles off Karachi’s shores.

President Arif Alvi had earlier promulgated the Pakistan Islands Development Authority (PIDA) Ordinance, for the development and management of islands in Pakistan’s internal and territorial waters.

While the Sindh government initially supported it, loud hue and cry led to a change in its stance and it now maintains the ordinance will trample the rights of the islands’ residents and usurp the province’s authority.

On Thursday, the governor had provided assurances that the Centre would address the Sindh government’s grievances as well as those of fishermen and the indigenous population, adding that the province would retain the twin islands’ ownership. He had also stated that no development work would begin on the islands without the consent of the Sindh government and environmental experts

Meanwhile, Sindh Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah had reasserted Sindh’s rejection of the ordinance, adding that the islands in question were the Sindh government’s property and no construction could begin without its consent.