RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Pakistan Muslim League-Functional on Tuesday demanded that the government should also give a financial share from oil and gas royalty to those districts and tehsils that produce the energy.

PML-F’s Parliamentary Group Leader, Nand Kumar, made this demand in a resolution he tabled in the Sindh Assembly session on a private members day. He told the house that the districts and tehsils, that have important natural resources, need to be developed and it can be done if they are given a share from royalty that Sindh government is given due to these districts natural resources.

MQM’s Sabir Hussain Qaimkhani in his resolution asked the provincial government to make laws to ensure a ‘net zero energy buildings’ in the cities across the province for power preservations. He said it would help save energy. MQM’s Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan Kamali demanded of the government to set up a heart disease hospital in Mirpurkhas.

The assembly also demanded of the provincial and federal governments to declare an official holiday on the death anniversary of the late Pir Sibghatullah Rashidi, better known as Soorhia Badshah, the grandfather of incumbent Pir Pagara who is also named after him. The demand came through a resolution by PML-F’s Waryam Faqir, who praised the Soorhia Badshah for his heroic resistance to the colonial British Raj in South Asia and laid his life for the sacred cause.

He called him ‘hero’ of this land saying that “on his martyrdom day, there should be a public holiday to make his sacrifices and resistance known to new generation.” MQM’s Dewan Chand Chawla also supported the demand, saying that “every year a public holiday should be observed to remember Soorhia Badshah.” He also called him a ‘great hero’ of the land.

Sindh Information Minister, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah also supported the resolution, saying that the PPP was the first who declared his death anniversary as holiday. Nand Kumar said that the late Soorhia Badshah laid his life to defend the motherland. “His body has not yet been found since his martyrdom day,” he said, adding that he and his Hur mujahideen rendered great sacrifices for this land hence they should be glorified.

PML-F’s Saeed Khan Nizamani called Soorhia Badshah as national hero, saying he was not only a hero of Sindh but the entire country. His death anniversary should be observed as a national holiday. The house also adopted two private bills.

The first came from PPP’s Ghazala Siyal to establish a private academic institution in Karachi as “Pakistan University.” However, opposition cautioned the treasury regarding the naming of the university after Pakistan. Farhat Seemi moved a private bill “Usman Institute of Technology University.”