Sindh minister rejects division of Sindh, dismisses TV surveys

Senior Sindh Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon has said the provincial government will not accept any division of Sindh and that television channel surveys on the subject carry no weight, because the Sindh Assembly has already passed a resolution against partition. He was speaking at a press conference in Karachi.

Pakistan cannot be handed over to linguistic politics again, he said, accusing the Muttahida Qaumi Movement of spreading linguistic division. He said the Pakistan Peoples Party is ready to give an account of its 18 years in Sindh, citing universities, colleges, hospitals and the Thar coal project.

He said the PPP made Pakistan's constitution and that nuclear power and missile technology became possible during PPP governments. On China, he welcomed President Asif Ali Zardari's visit and said Sindh and China's Hainan province are sister provinces. The Sindh government is organising an investment conference in China and the chief minister will attend; China Electric has invested in Thar coal and agreements worth billions of rupees are expected.

Memon said one billion dollars has been spent on Thar coal, and coal from Thar goes to the federation. He said Tharparkar coal could support electricity exports for two years.

He listed health measures: people from across Pakistan come to Karachi for treatment, hospitals do not ask for identity cards, cyberknife treatment is free, air ambulance services operate from Sukkur and Karachi, and liver and lung transplants are free. He said the government is building homes for 2.1 million flood-affected families and is working to increase wheat production.

He then attacked the MQM, claiming it was in government during dictatorships but built no hospital in Karachi. He accused the MQM of spreading linguistic politics, killing 35 station house officers, and snatching weapons from police on 12 May and handing them to terrorists. He said those in MQM today defended such actions then, and that blame cannot be shifted entirely to Altaf Hussain. He said MQM's politics harmed all of Pakistan and should not return to calls for weapons and linguistic division. He said he was speaking in Urdu, which had become an international language, and that Urdu speakers and Sindhi speakers have equal rights over Karachi.