Unrest similar to one in Balochistan could erupt in Sindh province also if it were not properly paid for its natural resources, an opposition member from Sindh told the National Assembly on Friday. Manzoor Hussain Wasan of the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) said during an inconclusive debate in the lower house on the Balochistan situation that Sindh was not getting its due share of revenues from its resources such as natural gas, iron and oil. He also complained about job quotas in projects and said the government was intentionally creating a situation similar to that in Balochistan. "If the excesses continue, then the people of Sindh will think in the same way as those of Balochistan are thinking," said the member who was the first of only two members who spoke on the fourth day of the debate on Balochistan that will resume when the house reassembles on Monday at 3:30pm. Mr Wasan said demands like increase in royalty for gas and oil and more jobs for local people in projects in their province should not be branded as something anti-Pakistan. "If a situation is created (in Sindh) then we will also raise demands (like those made in Balochistan)," said the member whose party is the main political force in the southern province.
Maulana Merajuddin, a pro-MMA independent member from the troubled South Waziristan agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, complained of perceived injustices done to the people of Balochistan as well as of last year's military operations in his own constituency near the Afghan border against suspected al Qaeda militants and their local harbourers. He said patriotic Wazir people were killed to please America and was complaining about alleged mistreatment of women when deputy speaker Sardar Mohammad Yaqub, who was in the chair at the time, cut short his speech by switching off the member's mike.
| "Mister Speaker! Point of order! Mister Deputy Speaker told me to shut my fudge up!" |
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