Centre not sending army to occupy islands: Umar

Planning minister says gas shortage in winter will hit industrial consumers

HYDERABAD:

Planning Minister Asad Umar said on Saturday the federal government was not sending army to occupy Sindh’s islands, as he sought to calm the sentiments in the province over the issuance of Pakistan Islands Development Authority (Pida) Ordinance.

The minister undertook whirlwind visit to Hyderabad – the second largest city of Sindh – but did not announce any federally-funded development package for the city. He said that he had reached an understanding with Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) for such a package.

"We aren't sending an army to occupy these islands," Umar told a press conference, referring to Bhundar and Dingi islands off the Karachi coast. “Prime Minister Imran Khan has categorically stated that the issue would be resolved in consensus with the provincial government.”

Umar addressed the press conference after meeting with MQM-P's legislators and local leaders at the latter's zonal office at Bhai Khan Incline. Earlier, he also chaired a meeting at the local Circuit House and addressed representatives of trade and industry at the Hyderabad Gymkhana.

Probed further about the controversy surrounding the islands issue, the planning minister told reporters that the previous Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) federal government had also tried to initiate similar projects on these islands.

Why in July this year did the same Sindh chief minister and the provincial government issue no-objection certificate (NOC) for the two islands to the Centre if they were opposed to the federal projects,” the minister asked. “I think only politics is being done over the islands.”

About the Census 2017 data, which is contested by the MQM-P, a government ally, Umar said that the federal government had formed a cabinet committee, comprising representatives from all over the provinces to resolve the issue.

“If the census increases Karachi’s population, Sindh’s share in the NFC [National Finance Commission] Award and the federal resources will also increase. But my question is why we haven’t heard voice of the Sindh CM or the Sindh government on this issue?”

Umar said the manner in which Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Capt (retd) Safdar was arrested after the October 18 rally of the Pakistan Democratic Movement in Karachi was unnecessary.

"Did the federal government get any benefit from Safdar's arrest. If not then why would the Centre do this?" he asked. “He [Safdar] is not a big political ‘Tarzan’,” he added, referring to archetypal character created by American fiction writer Edgar Rice Burroughs.

The minister mocked the PML-N leaders' assertion that the PTI's government would not complete even the ongoing year in power, saying that the people making these forebodings were the same who used to say that they did not own properties in the UK or even in Pakistan.

He asked Safdar and other PML-N leaders to apologise to the nation for violating the sanctity of Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum by raising political slogans there. He also criticised the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, saying that he was a convicted prisoner who is escaping the justice system.

During the press conference, the minister was also asked about the Supreme Court's detailed judgment issued on Friday in Justice Qazi Faez Isa case. Umar replied that the court itself came to conclusion that there were relevant questions about the properties which need to be answered. "It means the court agreed with the contention that the questions which arose needed answers."

The minister acknowledged that a shortage of gas supply would hit the industrial consumers in the upcoming winter season. According to him, the country needed over 6 billion cubic feet (bcf) gas but less than 4 bcf is being currently produced. “The government is trying to rationalise the price of the LNG [liquefied natural gas] to make it more affordable.”

Responding to complaints from the traders and industrialists concerning the power outages, Umar said surplus electricity was available in the country but the power distribution companies needed reforms in their system.

About a federally-funded mega development package for Hyderabad, the minister said that he had reached an understanding with the MQM-P for such a package. "A mega development package [similar to the Karachi package] will be planned for Hyderabad soon," he told the press conference.

Umar said he discussed the package with the opposition leader in Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi and MQM-P's representatives. "The Centre wanted to approve a big package for Hyderabad on the lines of the Karachi package in collaboration with the provincial government," he said.

But, when asked for a time frame as to when the projects under the package would start, the minister said the package would be finalised once the development works of the Karachi package become streamlined.

Umar claimed that he had discussed in the past as well the plan of a mutually executed development package for the interior of Sindh, including Hyderabad, with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

The minister particularly referred to the federal university project, which is being established in Kohsar, Latifabad, saying that the land acquisition continued to face delays. He assured that he would personally take up the land issue with the chief minister in a meeting on October 26.