Madam Chairperson,
The General Assembly resolution 41/128 of 4 December 1986 affirms, "...every human person and all people are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized"; (and) " The human right to development also implies the full realization of the right of peoples to self-determination, which includes, subject to the relevant provisions of both International Covenants on human Rights, the exercise of their inalienable right to full sovereignty over all their natural wealth and resources".
Natural resources are gifts of nature for the people, to enjoy a prosperous life in dignity. It is the people of the area, where natural resources exist have the right to use them. But exploitative forces have a history of invading rich areas, purely for the occupation of the natural resources. Conspiracies, use of force and infiltration in the nations to divide them are tactics to plunder the natural resources and enslave the people to accept the occupation by breaking their will. These exploitative forces do not believe in any religion. In fact, they use the religion to continue their occupation of the areas. Religion has always been the simplest tool to annihilate the opposition and the masses.
Where there are disparities, there will be conflicts. These conflicts could be ideological, economic, social and political. The United Nations is striving hard to remove discrimination, injustices and disparities from many parts of the world for the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights of the peoples. However, the United Nations alone can not succeed unless the state parties also have the will to treat all its citizens irrespective of which group of ethno-linguistic, cultural and national minority they may belong to, in equality. It is imperative for peace, stability and integrity of any country that all its regions and provinces are treated in equality by its ruling oligarchies or people at the helm of affairs. Just one province or region does not constitute a country, all of its regions or provinces collectively constitute a country. If the will of one province or region is imposed over the will of its smaller or minority provinces and that also on the strength of its population and not wealth or resources, then the viability of the Federation will stand challenged.
Madam Chairperson,
Sindh, southern province of Pakistan is very rich in natural resources and Karachi is its capital and the only natural sea port of Pakistan. Karachi is also the commercial capital of Pakistan and alone contributes more than 70% to the national exchequer but it gets only 10% from Federation according to the National Finance Commission (NFC) award. People of Sindh have been showing there dissatisfaction of the political and social system of Pakistan since long time.
Another issue has affected Sindh very much in recent years, which is Water. Water is in fact a global issue and is becoming scarce all over the world and perhaps future wars will take place over water instead of gas, petroleum and other mineral reserves. Sindh, whose economy essentially depends on agrarian pursuits, has been subjected to a man-made crisis, unjust as well as inhuman. While all of Pakistan is affected by declining supply of water, the impact on Sindh and Balochistan is the worst. Sindh, almost completely depends on canal irrigation, as groundwater sources have become unfit for use. Salinity and water logging has affected 88.8 per cent of Sindh's agricultural land. Sindh has had to bear the maximum brunt of the large and inefficient irrigation network. The diversion of water upstream towards Punjab has resulted in the decline water downstream to Sindh. As a result, discharge of freshwater into the sea has come down, thus causing intrusion of sea waters into the mainland. Sea intrusion has already destroyed 1.5 million acres of farmland in the two coastal districts of Badin and Thatta. It has resulted in the demise of three commercial towns, Ghorabhari, Shah Bandar and Ketti Bandar and the displacement of a quarter million people. The cumulative economic loss is estimated to be close to 2 percent of GDP of Pakistan.
During 2000-2005, Sindh's share in irrigation water was cut by 25-40 percent. As a result of water shortage, industries are shifting from Sindh to Punjab. Sindh's position as an industrial centre is in peril. The people of Sindh fear that the plans to construct the Kalabagh dam and Thai canal will further aggravate their problems. Sindh has launched massive agitation against Kalabagh dam and Thal canal, threatening secession. Demonstrations were held in the Province almost daily, where speaker after speaker compared the present situation in Sindh to the one in East Pakistan in 1971.
The ground water resources are also fact depleting. As compared to 3.34 MAF in 1959, ground water pumping is estimated to reach 55 MAF by 2009. As a result of over pumping, about 70 percent of Pakistan's half-a-million tube wells produce hard or brackish water.
The conflict between Sindh and Punjab on water is expected to aggravate on account of the proposal to construct the Kalabagh dam and Thal canal. Punjab supports Kalabagh dam as it is expected to provide additional storage to meet the existing water shortages during the early Kharif season of April-June. It is also expected to produce 3,400 MW of electricity, and control high floods in the Indus. Sindh believes that Kalabagh will leave no surplus water for areas below Kotri and render the province into a desert. Seawater intrusion will further increase.
Madam Chairperson,
Water needs to be managed as a commodity. It is essential to jointly set up an organisation with representatives from both provinces, whose functions would entail identifying short term and long term supply capacity of the water and its integrated development, setting up of infrastructure and coordinating activities of the different technical agencies. The development of such a plan would require large financial and technical resources. It should be possible to mobilise such resources from around the world, perhaps with the World Bank agencies playing a lead role.
The integrated development approach may be Utopian, but all the other options will lead to destruction sooner or later. It is only possible with a paradigm shift in the mindset. It will require a complete end to hostilities, both physical and psychological. It will have to be a part of the final settlement in letter and spirit.
The blatant discrimination in the economic and financial sector does not only result in uneven development of the country but also breeds alienation and mistrust among the masses of people. Economic discrimination can be removed only when there is just and equitable distribution of wealth based on the principle of production ratio.
Sindh is a region that justifiably boasts one of the richest and oldest civilizations in the world. We mean the Harappa and Mohanjodaro civilizations. Her saints and seers have always preached tolerance and brotherhood through the examples of their own life style. This traditionally human and generous civilization is sought to be criminalized and corrupted. Deliberate promotion of religious extremism and sectarianism has turned Sindh in general and Karachi in particular into a place of murderers, time-hardened criminals who terrorize people and disrupt peace.
Pakistan needs to be redeemed from the parochialism, resulted from the despotic rule under the feudal political system to gain its respectable place in the community of nations. It can only be achieved by dismantling the established "feudal order" and replacing it by the "middle class order".
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
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