Khalid Maqbool calls for discussions with experts to resolve canals issue

HYDERABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Chairman Khalid Maqbool Siddique has stated that the six canals project should be resolved through discussions with experts instead of playing political cards on it.

He stated that as a controversy had been built around the project, the federal cabinet was hesitate about discussing it. He, however, stated that the canals should not be built without the consent of Sindh.

Speaking to the media at the annual rations distribution programme of the Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation (KKF) in Hyderabad, Dr Siddiqui said the MQM-P stance from the beginning was that all the stakeholders should be brought at one platform on the canals issue.

He also lamented that Karachi got less than 1 per cent of the water that the Indus River System Authority supplied to Sindh. He said that agricultural water was important but not more than drinking water.

He was of the view that Sindh's rights should not be violated in any project because this is not a matter of private persons but a matter of Pakistan. About the ministries given to the MQM-P, he said those ministries were not the choices of the MQM-P, but the party was holding them to support democracy. He remarked that Karachi and Hyderabad were not getting their due financial shares and more development works were required in the two cities.