Daily Times

The people of Sindh from the black shores of the Arabian Sea to the grave of General John Jacob have been demonstrating unremittingly against the Pakistan Islands Development Authority (PIDA) and the usurpation of their coastal belt by the Federation. The demonstrations not only have displayed the extent and intensity of the Sindhis’ anger on the violation of their constitutional, territorial and proprietary rights over the Islands and the coastal belt, they have starkly exposed the hypocrisy of the PPP provincial administration. In this entire game, the Government of Sindh (GoS) has been running with the hare and hunting with the hound.

There is no doubt that the PIDA is unconstitutional. It violates in letter and spirit a cluster of articles of the Constitution and reflects the unholy connivance of the PPP with the Federal Authority. Article 89 of the Constitution gives power to the Federal Government to issue ordinances. This is contingent on many conditions such as: 1) when the Parliament is not in session; 2) when there is an emergent situation in the country requiring emergency legislation; 3) the sub section (2) of the above article allows the National Assembly or the Senate to do away with any Ordinance before the expiry of its statutory life of 120 day. Though the Ordinance fuelled demonstrations in Sindh, the PPP did not move to have a resolution passed by the Senate where the opposition has the majority.

Article 1 of the Constitution determines the territorial boundaries of the federating units and the Federation. The Federation within its territorial jurisdiction had the Federally Administered Agencies (FATA) and Islamabad. By 25th Amendment, the FATA were included in KPK. Thus, the Federation had only Islamabad within its territory. The PIDA Ordinance has now extend edits territorial jurisdiction over the entire coastal belt of Baluchistan and Sindh including the Islands violating Article 1 and 239 (4) which, respectively, define the boundaries of the federal units, and give protection to their territorial integrity. The most worrying fact is that the superior courts including the respective High Courts have been debarred from entertaining any petition under article 199 (guaranteeing the fundamental rights of the people) against the Ordinance.

The building of new cities, while filling up the coffers of estate tycoons and providing comfortable niches for the elite for their banal pursuits, will end the livelihood of over 0.8 million fishermen and displace a large population from the coastal belts

The article 172 (2) explicitly recognizes the jurisdiction and proprietary rights of the concerned provinces over the valuable assets – lands, minerals, oil and gas – within the 12 nautical miles of the territorial waters, and of the Federation ‘beyond’ the territorial waters. The Federal Authority can acquire land for any national cause under Article 152 of Schedule 4 of the Constitution. For this purpose, appropriate laws have to be passed in accordance with the Constitution. However, this acquisition of land does not include construction etc. Considering all the above constitutional articles and provisions, one is bound to believe in the underlying nexus between the Federation and the senior PPP leadership.

Nowhere in the world or nowhere in the evolutionary history of the Federations, has the Federal Authority altered the territorial boundaries of its federating units snatching chunks of their territories in so arbitrary, authoritative and arrogant way in gross violation of the basic law of the land. How can one believe that the Federation in an unprecedented move took over the entire coastal belt of the province including its Islands and the Government of Sindh did not have an inkling of it. What was the purpose of handling the matter in hushed way except that they wanted to keep it secret from the people of Sindh fearing a harsh public reaction? They had the experience of 2006 when General Musharraf wanted to hand over the same two Islands to Dubai-based builders and then backed off because of public protests.

The PIDA Ordinance has not been issued to serve some greater national cause. The Islands have been taken over to be handed over to estate tycoons for building skyscrapers to the peril of the indigenous people and ecosystem. The Sindh Delta, with its mangrove forests sprawling over hectares of marshy lands maintain the ecological equilibrium protecting the city from the Sea intrusion, high tides, tsunamis and flooding, and provide a natural environment for fish hatcheries, wild and marine life. The building of new cities, while filling up the coffers of estate tycoons and providing comfortable niches for the elite for their banal pursuits, will end the livelihood of over 0.8 million fishermen and displace a large population from the coastal belts.

As the public protests hit the roads and streets of the cities of Sindh including Karachi, the Government of Sindh withdrew the secret letter of consent which it had sent to the Federal Authority on 6 July in response to latter’s communication of 2 July and verbally rejected the PIDA Ordinance. The PPP took no further steps to bring the matter to the Senate of Pakistan or the Sindh Legislative Assembly. It is gratifying Bilawal has been finally shaken out of his slumber by the unremitting public protests forcing him to announce that the Sindh Assembly would be called in session within a couple of days to pass a resolution rejecting the PIDA ordinance. Hopefully, the PPP will bring the issue to the Senate of Pakistan for a similar resolution.

He was prompted to make these announcements by the bold and clear position taken by Moulana Fazal Rehman, leader of the Pakistan Democratic Movement in his address to opposition rallies in Gujranwala and later in Karachi. His party has always been in the vanguard on the nationalist issues of Sindh. The slain JUI leader in Sindh, Khalid Soomro was very vocal about the nationalist issues of Sindh. His son and heir Rashid Soomro has been following the footprints of his illustrated father on Sindh issues.

The author was a member of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books