Bundal, Buddo Islands: SHC grants time to federal govt to submit its reply

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday granted time to the federal government to submit its reply after it sought time on a petition challenging its jurisdiction over Bundal and Buddo Islands located in the coastal waters of Karachi.

The petition, which was filed by Dr Kaiser Bengali and a member of the fishing community of Ibrahim Hyderi, Khairunisa, requested the court to issue a stay order and stop the federal government from posting advertisement for the post of chairman of the Pakistan Islands Development Authority.

During the hearing on Wednesday, the court rejected the petitioner’s plea for the stay order.

Additional Attorney-General Kashif Paracha told the court that a constitutional petition against the ordinance was already being heard in the high court. The federal government would file a detailed response on October 23.

Basil Nabi-Malik, the petitioner’s lawyer, argued that the mapping of the said islands reveals that they are located behind the baseline and within the internal waters of Pakistan as defined by the federal government itself.

In any case, the islands do not lie beyond Pakistan’s territorial waters, which are also within the competence of the provincial government, he said.

He pointed out that the federal government had also requested the Sindh government to make available the islands in question, which is an explicit acknowledgment of the provincial government’s competence over the same.

In the light of the provincial government’s refusal to provide permission as required by the law, the federal government retains no jurisdiction over the said islands, he argued.

The lawyer said that the actions taken in pursuance of the ordinance will not only deprive the local fishermen of their livelihood but also damage the mangroves which are critical to the ecosystem of the country.

The counsel contended that Articles 172(2) and 142(c) of the Constitution unambiguously give Sindh jurisdiction over the islands and makes the Ordinance and the advertisement for the post of chairman of PIDA ultra vires of the Constitution.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020