MPAs question why Larkana, Benazirabad given Rs5b but a billion less for the rest of Sindh

Minorities issues also surface during the session, MPAs demand law against forced conversions.

KARACHI: Crying foul over the “discriminatory approach” adopted by the Sindh government, the lawmakers questioned why it allocated a billion more in the budget for Larkana and Benazirabad than the rest of Sindh.

“Special package worth Rs5 billion have been announced for Benazirabad and Larkana districts while a total of Rs4 billion have been allocated for the rest of Sindh, including Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur,” pointed out Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA Saleem Bandhani during his speech on Wednesday. “Can the government brief us under which criterion it has allocated these funds?”



Bandhani, who belongs to Sukkur district, said that his city is the third largest in the province but the government has only allocated Rs345 million for it. Meanwhile, Hyderabad being the second-largest city could only get Rs409 million which is unjust, he added.

Not only the MQM, but the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Faqeer Dad Khoso also demanded the government allocate funds for Jamshoro district, which according to him is the gateway of the entire province.

During the budget speech, another MQM MPA Khawaja Izharul Hasan called the budget a division between rural and urban areas. “Karachi, a capital of this province, is the economic hub of Pakistan but unfortunately the government has only allocated Rs2.5 billion for it,” he said, adding that this was not enough.

MPA priority fund

The provincial lawmakers belonging to the PPP and the MQM demanded the government revisit its plan to scrap the MPAs’ priority funds under which each MPA was given Rs60 million for development schemes in their areas. Aamir Moin Pirzada clarified that MPAs did not have access to these funds. “They were just supposed to submit development schemes for their areas to the planning and development department keeping in mind the funds allocated,” he said, adding that the government has now allocated Rs8.6 billion to a new scheme called ‘priority fund’, but no one knows who will run it and how the amount will be spent.

‘Minorities not safe in Sindh’

The four minority MPAs belonging to the ruling PPP and the MQM joined their hands during the session to seek protection for their community and demanded an end to forced conversions. PPP’s Dr Lal Chand Ukrani told the house that conspiracies against Hindus in Sindh are being hatched since the creation of Pakistan and some elements want them to leave their land. “We are the sons of this soil and would prefer to die here than leave Sindh.” He also suggested lawmakers should come forward to make a law against forced conversions of Hindus, especially women.

MQM’s Poonjo Mal Bheel raised the issue of scheduled-caste Hindus, who are being marginalised in the name of religion. He requested the chief minister to make a law in order to retain all the properties of Hindus that come under Evacuee Trust Property. “The properties of those Hindus who left for India and other countries are being called as enemy property,” he pointed out. “We should discourage this practice as they were our brothers who left the country under precarious circumstances.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2013.