From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: Amid a boycott by the MQM-P, the Sindh Assembly on Thursday passed a resolution, firmly rejecting any proposal, plan, or constitutional arrangement aimed at “dividing” the province, altering its territorial boundaries, or creating new administrative units.
The resolution was moved by PPP lawmaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro after days of debate on an adjournment motion moved by the treasury lawmaker. As many as 137 lawmakers from both sides of the aisle took part in the discussion triggered after the PPP legislator moved the adjournment motion against “any move to divide Sindh”.
The resolution cited Article 239(4) of the Constitution, maintaining that no constitutional amendment altering the limits of a province can be presented to the President without being passed by a two-thirds majority of that province’s assembly. The resolution added that the Sindh Assembly does not and shall not consent to any such territorial alterations. Reflecting on Sindh’s civilisational identity and its historic role as the first provincial legislature to pass a resolution in support of Pakistan in 1943, the assembly declared in “unambiguous” terms that Sindh is one and shall remain one.
The House — in which PPP enjoys a two-thirds majority —also rejected any scheme to detach any district, division, or region from the province, or to place any part of Sindh under federal or separate administrative control, stating that all existing regions form an “integral and inseparable” part of the province. “The resolution calls upon the Federal Government, Parliament, and all political parties to respect the democratic will of the people of Sindh and refrain from entertaining any proposals that threaten provincial integrity,” the resolution read.
The assembly asked the provincial government to transmit an official copy of the reso-lution to the president, prime Minister, Senate chairman, and National Assembly speak-er to formally place Sindh’s constitutional position on the national record. Concluding the debate earlier, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said Sindh had joined Pakistan as a single, united province and that its territorial integrity could not be altered against the will of its people or their elected representatives.
The chief minister said the debate was initiated by the PPP in response to recent state-ments by certain political leaders advocating new provinces or separate administrative units. CM Murad also criticised what he described as contradictory positions adopted by MQM-P leadership and some political parties who publicly opposed the division of Sindh while simultaneously proposing separate assemblies, chief executives and gov-ernance structures for various divisions of the province.
The Chief Minister said Sindh had consistently defended its identity and constitutional rights throughout history, whether in opposing the separation of Karachi from Sindh in 1948 or resisting the One Unit scheme. He maintained that the One Unit arrangement was wrong when it was imposed and re-mains wrong today, arguing that the assembly which endorsed it did not truly represent the people of Sindh.
