London
– 12 January 2001
Sardar
Attaullah Mengal, Convenor PONM and President of Balochistan National Party
(BNP), and Mr Altaf Hussain, Founder and Leader of Muttahida Quami Movement
(MQM) while strongly lamenting the daily extraction of 800-barrel oil from
Fazil Rahu in Sindh province, have stated that this oil is the wealth of Sindh
and therefore, Federation has no right of looting it. In a joint statement they said that the Allah Almighty has
bestowed Sindh with the great wealth in the shape of oil, gas, water and other
mineral resources. For the past 53
years, in the name of Federation, Punjab has been exploiting these resources of
Sindh, whereas, Sindh is being kept deprived of its share. Sardar Attaullah Mengal and Mr Altaf Hussain
said that in the name of Federation, the wealth generated from the resources of
Sindh province is being spent on the development and prosperity of Punjab. Sindh province is also deprived of its due
share in the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award. The people of Sindh are even deprived of clean drinking water let
alone any development. They said that
only the Sindh province has full rights over the oil, gas, coal, water and
other mineral resources of Sindh and the Federation has no right to loot
Sindh’s wealth.
Referring
to the Resolution No 3 presented in the public gathering of the 17 September
2000 in London, Sardar Attaullah Mengal and Mr Altaf Hussain said that the
people of the smaller provinces do not consider themselves responsible for the
agreements being made without their consent and knowledge, between the
international companies, organisations and countries with the current
Establishment, with regard to exploitation, the use of the resources, means of
production and distribution in the smaller provinces -- either in the form of
oil and gas, minerals or ports. The
people of the smaller provinces believe that by committing such act, the
international companies, organisations and the countries are intentionally or
unintentionally becoming a party to the exploitation of the resources of the
smaller provinces by the Punjabi Establishment. The international companies, organisations and countries should
refrain from such acts because the poor, enslaved and unarmed people of these
provinces have the right according to the International Norms and United
Nations Charter to protect and defend their resources, their land and their
means of production and distribution.
Sardar
Attaullah Mengal and Mr Altaf Hussain demanded that the continued process of
looting the wealth of Sindh and other smaller provinces must be stopped
forthwith and the powers and resources of these smaller provinces must be
handed over to the smaller provinces so that they could extract these resources
for the development and prosperity of their provinces.