Minister adds to row, says PPP govt handed over twin islands

stimulate the twin islands as trade, investment and logistics centres and hubs, duty-free areas and international tourist destinations.

On Tuesday, senior PTI leader and Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi posted on social media a provincial government letter, dated July 6, 2020, through which it had made "available" Bundal Island to the federal government.

Without touching on the issue as to who owns the islands, the federal minister, while responding to PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's tweet in which he termed the Centre's move an "illegal annexation", said: "The cat is out of the bag. All can see how hypocritical PPP leadership is. No unconstitutional steps have been taken on Bundal Island. For the record, island's come under PQA [Port Qasim Authority] coordinates." The letter Mr Zaidi posted on Twitter titled "Change of use of land in the limits of Port Qasim Authority" was issued by the provincial secretary of the land utilisation department.

It said the provincial cabinet in response to a request made by the federal government "decided to make the said Island available to federal government". However, no name of island was mentioned in the letter.

The letter stated any development or construction activity on the "said Island by the federal government shall also protect and promote the legitimate interest of local fisherman/population".

The document, tweeted by the PTI minister, did not contain anything that say the right of ownership, too, was transferred to the federal government and it appears that the presidential ordinance was promulgated in an attempt to acquire land owner

A fresh war of words between the federal government and the Sindh government erupted when the latter declared Islamabad's move to take over twin islands of Bundal and Buddo through a presidential ordinance 'unconstitutional' while the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf at the Centre claimed the islands were handed over by the Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government itself.

Keeping parliament out of the loop on the issue, President Arif Alvi had recently promulgated the Pakistan Islands Develop ment Authority (PIDA) Ordinance, 2020 to allow the federal government to take control of the two islands to initiate and maintain a continuous process of reclamation, master planning, urban planning, spatial planning and to promote and

KARACHI