PPP chief warns conspiracy afoot to hurt Sindh; frames Thar as counter-history
Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari addresses a press conference in Karachi on Friday, November 7, 2025. SCREENGRAB
HYDERABAD:
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hit out at political elements who have often viewed Islamabad’s intentions vis-à-vis the provinces as being skewed by some powers seeking to strip Sindh of its rights, authority and resources.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the first phase of Tharparkar Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology in Tharparkar district on Wednesday, Bilawal warned that a ‘special campaign’ was being run to tarnish the image of the province and its government.
“Some powers want to deprive your province of its rights, authority and resources on the pretext that the Sindh government has done nothing, that this small province has done nothing,” the PPP chairman alleged.
“[They say] that is why all authority and resources must be returned to Islamabad,” he added without specifically referring to any individual, political party or institution. “This is all being done for a specific purpose [and] for a certain conspiracy,” he emphasized.
However, Bilawal stressed that the development initiatives in Tharparkar, as well as in other parts of Sindh, effectively negate this false narrative of poor performance by the provincial government.
He asked the residents of Tharparkar to witness the development in their area. “Look at Tharparkar before 2008 and look at it today in 2026. There are still problems but the transformation is before your eyes,” he said.
“I want to tell those who think that for Sindh or for its people, the path to development is only possible through Islamabad, that we have proved this notion wrong through initiatives in education, health and public-private sectors. Thar has also proved it wrong.”
He recalled that the tendency to deny autonomy to the provinces and control over their natural resources had prevented his mother, former prime minister, the late Benazir Bhutto, from launching the Thar coal project in 1993.
He claimed that the same conspiracies had thwarted her efforts to exploit Thar’s coal, not only for the development of this desert region but for the entire country. He equated the amount of coal reserves in Thar with the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.
“This is unfortunate for this country and its people that the journey of development and economic progress which could have started in 1993 only started after 2008,” the PPP leader told the audience.
He added that the exploitation of Thar coal has not only helped the local economy and residents but also benefited industrial zones in Faisalabad through coal-generated electricity. He also highlighted the social impact of the Thar coal projects, linking them to improvements in health and education in the region.
The PPP chairman recalled that in 2019, students from Tharparkar had demanded the establishment of a university in their district. The Sindh government had set up a campus of NED University in a government building in the same year.
He said that in the first phase, the Tharparkar Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology has been inaugurated, while the second phase – which will upgrade the institute to a university – will be completed by the end of the current Sindh government term in 2029.
Bilawal credited the Sindh government for doubling the number of universities in the province over the past 18 years. He also expressed satisfaction at witnessing a higher number of female students progressing to higher education in the universities.
