Sindh rejects Pakistan Island Development Authority Ordinance

KARACHI: The Sindh Cabinet unanimously rejected the presidential ordinance under which Pakistan Islands Development Authority has been established and demanded that the Centre withdraw it at once, a statement from the Chief Minister House said.

Under the ordinance, the federal government took custody of some islands, which previously were provincial property, to launch mega commercial and housing schemes.

In an interesting development, it emerged that it was only after the provincial government’s consent that President Dr Arif Alvi had promulgated the Islands Development Authority Ordinance 2020 on August 31, The News reported on Wednesday.

Taking an about turn on the matter, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah chaired a provincial cabinet meeting at the Chief Minister’s House on Tuesday in which the ordinance was unanimously rejected and the federal government was asked to immediately withdraw it.

The cabinet was given a detailed briefing on the ordinance promulgated on 31 August 2020 by the President of Pakistan.

The cabinet members, commenting on ordinance, said that it was against the "Constitution of Pakistan".

“The Constitution establishes the ownership of the provincial government on the lands, the islands, and the land in the sea located within its territorial jurisdiction,” the members said.

Read more: Bilawal likens establishment of Pakistan island authority to Modi’s annexation of Kashmir

The cabinet said that the ordinance had been promulgated in such a way as if the islands were the "property of the federal government".

"The cabinet said that the ordinance, setting aside the conditions set by the Sindh government, declared the islands located in the territorial jurisdiction of the Sindh and Balochistan as the property of the federal government," the statement said.

The provincial cabinet said that the ordinance was "an attempt to trample the rights of the people of Sindh".

It has decided to write a letter to the federal government asking it to withdraw the ordinance which has "denied the rights of the provincial government and its people".

Addressing a press conference later in the day, Sindh government's spokesperson Murtaza Wahab said that the province had reservations over the federal government's decision.

"The ordinance that was issued on September 2 surfaced on October 3, showing the government's bad intent," Wahab said.

The government on August 31 promulgated an ordinance to establish the authority to develop and manage the islands in the internal and territorial waters of Pakistan.

According to a The News report, the authority has been created to “initiate and maintain a continuous process of reclamation and urban planning and identify immovable properties and projects suitable for the development of schemes within the internal and territorial waters of Pakistan.”

The Bundal and Buddo islands, on the Arabian Sea and off the coast of Karachi, will be the initial focus of the authority, the publication said.

Reacting strongly to the development yesterday, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said his party will oppose the “illegal annexation” of Sindh’s Islands through the presidential ordinance by the PTI government.

“I ask how is this act any different to Modi’s actions in occupied Kashmir?”

Bilawal said that the move will be opposed in the National Assembly, provincial assembly and the Senate.