LARKANA, July 27: Speakers at a seminar on provincial autonomy, held here on Sunday under the aegis of the Sindh United Party, opposed use of force in Balochistan and called for negotiations to resolve the issue.

When this strategy could be adopted in Fata, why not in Balochistan?” asked the speakers, including SUP chief Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, Hussain Haroon, Comrade Rochi Ram, Syed Ghulam Shah and Ali Nawaz Butt.

They said small provinces were denied their rights by democratic as well as authoritarian governments. The situation remained unchanged, they said and added that the centre’s jurisdiction should be curtailed to three subjects — defence, currency and foreign affairs — and all other subjects should be handed over to the provinces.

Calling the element of over-centralisation as the mother of all ills, they urged the government to abolish the concurrent list and federal divisible pool and transfer powers to the provinces.

They said three to four million Sindhis should go to Karachi and settle there permanently, adding that when it (Karachi) could absorb half a million aliens each year could it not accommodate four million Sindhis.

They brushed aside a perception that the new settlement would create disharmony and called for decentralisation of the Board of Revenue.

They asked the US for technology transfer regarding coal utilisation as it (US) was busy in sponsoring 160 such project the world over.

They said from Thar coal 20,000 megawatt of electricity could be generated provided it was run by autonomous authority. Sindh produces 90 per cent of oil and tremendous resources were still untapped.

Criticising the government’s policies, the speakers said that the poor pay 60 per cent of tax in the shape of General Sales Tax and the recent rise of 16 per cent in GST would skyrocket the dearness out of proportion.

The 30 percent pre-budget and 30 per cent post-budget rise in gas tariff and rise in oil prices had broken the back of the people, they said. Expressing apprehensions over the upcoming census in October, they said time had arrived to tell people residing in 88,000 villages in Sindh to register themselves.

They suggested curfew during the census as was done in Turkey, Nigeria, Israel and other countries of the world to avoid wrong entries.