Administrative unit be formed in Sindh, Senate told

State minister seeks better governance to end people’s hardships

ISLAMABAD:

The Senate was apprised on Monday by Minister of State Ali Muhammad Khan that where necessary in the country, including Sindh, administrative units should be formed for better governance.

As a bill for the formation of south Punjab is with the Senate to end the multiple hardships faced by the people living there, the state minister suggested the same for Sindh and other areas.

A meeting of the Senate was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Chairman Mirza Afridi in which PML-N Senator Sabir Shah introduced a constitutional amendment bill in the House to give Hazara Division the status of a province.

Sabir said that Hazara should be given the status of a province. PML-N Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed opposed the bill of his own party member.

Senator Mushahid said that provinces should not be formed on linguistic basis, “our problem is governance … the existing provinces should be strengthened along with local governments under the 18th Amendment … tomorrow Sindh and Potohar provinces will also be discussed”.

PPP Senator Maula Bakhsh Chandio protested against the talk of an administrative province in Sindh.

The deputy chairman referred the bill of Hazara province to the relevant committee.

To a motion moved by Senator Mushtiaq Ahmed to discuss the rapidly developing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and Pakistan's role for regional peace/security and to avert humanitarian crisis there, Leader of the House Dr Shahzad Waseem said Pakistan always gave a strong message that the nation was with the people of Afghanistan.

“Pakistan is playing a role of responsible and peace-loving nation to mitigate sufferings of the people of Afghanistan by making serious efforts to avert humanitarian crisis there.”

He said Pakistan along with friends and regional countries, played a proactive role to overcome the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan after withdrawal of foreign military troops from the war-torn country.

"Recognising Afghanistan is another issue, but we need to engage Afghanistan just to end the sufferings of the people," he added.

Senator Waseem said that Pakistan had a very clear stance that the people of Afghanistan should be provided complete assistance by the international community for peace and stability in the country.

He said Pakistan was enjoying historical, religious, political, traditional and humanitarian relations with Afghanistan, paying tribute to the Afghans for standing firmly against all kinds of aggression. “The enemies of Pakistan are trying to create a law and order situation, but Pakistan's armed forces are fully capable of thwarting their nefarious designs,” he added.

Waseem said the new regime in Afghanistan had ensured that it would not allow anyone to use its soil against any country.

On the recent visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to China, Waseem said all goals of the visit had been achieved.

“The recent incidents of terrorism were meant to dent Pakistan's image abroad especially when the prime minister was scheduled to visit China where a host of issues including strategic, economic and CPEC-related matters were to be discussed.”

He vowed that Pakistan would not fail against the nefarious designs of such elements but would also continue to move on the consistent path of development and prosperity.