Save the Indus River Movement announces protests against new canals

The Save the Indus River Movement (SIRM) has announced it will observe a day of protests across Sindh on March 14 against the federal government's move to build six new irrigation canals “at the cost of the water rights of the people of the province”.

Speaking at a press conference at Karachi Press Club on Tuesday, SIRM leaders urged the federal government to immediately rescind its plan to build new canals on the Indus River to ensure that the due water rights of the natives of Sindh were duly fulfilled. They threatened that in case the government didn't roll back its plans to build the canals, then a protest drive having intensity greater than that of the Movement for Restoration Democracy in the 1980s would be launched.

They called upon the Pakistan Peoples Party ruling in Sindh to immediately withdraw its support to the federal government to prove their sincerity to the cause of fulfilling basic water rights of the natives of the province.

SIRM Convener Syed Zain Shah lamented that ill-advised moves and decisions of the federal government had threatened the very existence of the state of Pakistan. He said the construction of new canals for implementing new Green Pakistan initiatives would render barren farmlands of Sindh spread over 3.5 million acres.

He said the new canals in Punjab would leave no water for farming activities and basic needs of urban inhabitants of Sindh. He added that the drying up of the Indus River because of the new canals would cause irreparable damage to the natural ecosystem in Sindh.

He said President Asif Ali Zardari in his address to the joint session of parliament hadn't unequivocally opposed the new canals' project and the remarks of the president on this issue were therefore condemnable. He urged the president to adopt a firm stance on this issue and use his influence to rescind the plan to build the new canals. He alleged that the president had connived with the federal government to approve the plan to build these canals.

The RISM convener said representatives of growers, lawyers, students, and other concerned quarters of society would be invited to participate in the protests to be held in Sindh on March 14 against the new canals.

Dr Safdar Abbasi told media persons that so far three major protest marches had been held in the province against the plan to build the new canals. He praised different concerned sections of society in Sindh for vocally opposing the plan. He said the new canals if built would cause irreparable damage to the interests of Sindh.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued to media, Sindh PPP President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro also warned of launching a protest drive if the federal government didn't announce it was scraping the plans to build new canals keeping in view the aspirations of the people of the province in this regard.

Khuhro said the federal government should roll back the plan to overcome rising restlessness among the natives of Sindh. He reiterated the stance of the PPP that its Sindh government would plead the case of the people of Sindh against the proposed canals at all the relevant constitutional forums.

He mentioned that the Sindh government in the past had urged the federal government to immediately convene the meeting of the Council of Common Interests to take up such controversial inter-provincial issues. He said the federal government by delaying the meeting of the CCI for discussing such issues had been contravening the constitution. He mentioned that the Indus River System Authority had also acknowledged an acute water shortage for the country's irrigation system.