Jokhio Jasarat Ilyas Sindhi;
Since centuries Sindh has been a unique and rich state on the globe. Sindh as an independent province of British Indian Government joined “Pakistan” during Indian partition on certain terms and conditions that the federal state will never ever capture or digest the rights of Sindh and will distribute all resources obtained from Sindh to the Sindhi people on top priority and later on to the rest of the states. Sindh is thus the land of mineral resources as well as rich in agriculture and all kinds of land plateaus either mountains, coastal or deserts. Unfortunately, it has been in the eyes of invaders since centuries ago who attacked the region in order to loot and devaste it by transferring and shifting the local assets to their nations. Not only ancient history is full of such stories but all these global and regional injustices are yet to continue and looks like Sindh is their final target to conquer the earth as whole! Sometimes they are dragging the dogs in Kohistan while as nowadays the current issue of Sindhi islands have come forth on media as well as on top current affairs of the country. Our elder province is the leading province in Pakistan but if such a case is ‘legal’ in federation then why the land of Islamabad was purchased from the Government of Punjab to locate and establish the capital city of Islamabad? Of course, it was the land of Punjab and legally it was purchased from the province to build the city for capital and today it is not in the premises of Punjab but it is an exclusive land of federal state. Likewise, the article 172 of the constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan clearly says that if any property which has no rightful owner shall, if located in a Province, vest in the Government of that Province, and in every other case, in the Federal Government and all of the lands, minerals and other things of value within the continental shelf or underlying the ocean beyond the territorial waters of Pakistan shall vest in the federal Government. This means that if there is a coastal belt and island under certain coastal miles in any province; it is the exclusive property of that province which is beside the coast. The Governor of Sindh says that the “Dinggi’ and “Bhinddar” Islands belong to Sindh, shall remain under the premises of Sindh forever and with such development, Sindh will be more powerful. If the statement of the Governor is based on honest reality, why is the federal government taking such interest in it? Why did the central government not go for such other developments? Why is the Government of Pakistan not constructing “Power Houses” in the rural areas of Sindh? Why our federal authorities are not enforcing the private sector wind power houses located in Kohistan to provide free electricity to the nearby villages of Jhimpir, Jhangri, Malmari, Jungshahi, Kallo Khoohar, Karo Jabal, Jalalji, Sarri, Mole and Nooriabad? Why are the DHA and Bahria Town illegally encroaching the villages of the real sons of soil starting from Malir extending to Jamshoro? Why is the federal Government not banning illegal theft of water and concerned resources on Indus and not compromising with Sindh? Why is there not a proper balance in the NFC Award? Why even after the 18th amendment in the constitution, federal powers are still looking forward to encroaching and destabilizing the provinces? Such questions evidently disclose the “wrong-steps” of the honourable Government of Pakistan over the resources of Sindh. Adding to the nature, the twin islands (Dinggi and Bhindar) are the resources of Mangrove forests wherein there is a large variety of such plants which were even found throughout the coastal belt of Sindh but unfortunately after the illegal deforestation done by some people in Sindh, such Mangrove are not found. Likewise, Dinggi and Bhanndar islands are also known as “golden islands” in terms of ecology. There is very rich biodiversity reported by various researchers of the global scientific research community. After the human development in the twin islands, all such biodiversity will vanish and there would be mega cities like present Karachi found on the twin islands which will exactly ruin the marine ecosystem impacting the negative results on nearby Islands of Karachi either devastating and bringing an imbalance in biological cycles. The civil societies of Sindh have raised their voice on national and international media; however, a big movement has also been noted on media which has built a lot of pressure on the central authorities to reinstate the geographical and demographical identity of Sindh but again there is some chance of the encroachments by federal governments. Therefore, the experts are intended to advise the civil society of Sindh to keep pressuring the authorities not to build a city of the islands as well as not to formulate any kind of illegal authority. Notwithstanding such a great pressure by the people of Sindh, the federal government is imposing the forceful decision and appointing the people in the so called “PIDA ” the illegal institution for the development of Islands. Reports have been exposing the attitude of the federal cabinet that they have been pushing the hidden hands to forcefully capture the coastal belt of Sindh and Balochistan.
(-The author is a reputed Researcher and Writer of Sindh.)