Karachi: The Sindh cabinet has demanded that the federal government immediately withdraw its recently promulgated ordinance to establish Pakistan Islands’ Development Authority (PIDA) as the provinces constitutionally own the islands within the maritime borders of Pakistan.
The Sindh cabinet held an emergency meeting with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in the chair on Tuesday to consider the plan of the federal government to develop two small islands off the coast of Karachi into modern cities.
The Sindh cabinet termed setting up of the PIDA through a presidential ordinance an illegal and unconstitutional step.
Constitution
“Any island present within the territorial waters of Pakistan is owned by the province as it is not under the ownership of the federal government,” said Sindh Law and Environment Adviser Barrister Murtaza Wahab, who also acts as the spokesman for Sindh government, while briefing media persons after the cabinet meeting.
He said that the Constitution of Pakistan, being the most coveted law document, had accepted that the provinces owned the islands. “In this case the federation has transgressed its authority as it has showed a piece of land its property, which doesn’t belong to it,” said Wahab.
He said the provincial governments of Sindh and Balochistan owned the islands at present in the maritime limits of Pakistan.
“The constitutional rights of Sindh and Balochistan have been trampled upon by the federation through promulgation of this ordinance,” he said.
He said the Sindh cabinet had unanimously rejected the presidential ordinance and demanded that the federal government immediately withdraw it.
“The decision of the Sindh cabinet is in the light of the Constitution that these islands nearby the coastal area do belong to the provincial government and the people of the province,” he said.
Wahab said the president of Pakistan had acted against the constitutional ethos of Pakistan by promulgating this ordinance. “The Sindh government, hereby, announces that it will not hold any sort of discussion with the federal government on these islands,” he said.
“These islands will be put to use in accordance with the law as the Sindh government will take steps in this regard while fulfilling the constitutional obligations,” he said.
