PPP rallies reject Indus canals project as ‘anti-Sindh’

The Pakistan Peoples Party on Tuesday held a protest rally from the Sindh Assembly to the Karachi Press Club against the proposed plan of the federal government to construct six new canals on the Indus River.

The rally was held under the aegis of the PPP District South. Similarly, protest rallies were held in all districts of Sindh. PPP leaders addressed the participants of the rally outside the Karachi Press Club. They said the inhabitants of Sindh had vehemently rejected the plan of constructing additional canals on the Indus River. They said that new farming initiatives in Punjab shouldn't be undertaken after stealing irrigation water from Sindh's water quota.

They said the concerned dwellers of Sindh would remain fully vigilant to protect every drop of water in the Indus River for their survival and farming activities. They called upon the federal government to immediately conevene the meeting of the Council of Common Interests to resolve the canals' controversy as per the constitution.

Participants of the rally raised slogans against the proposed canals to be built for farming in Cholistan. Former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani said Sindh had emphatically voted against the construction of new canals.

He said Sindh would never tolerate the construction of six new canals for farming in Cholistan. Rabbani said the PPP was the first entity to raise its voice against the project. He told the rally participants that the PPP, since its foundation, had actively struggled for the rights of Sindh. The former Senate chairman called upon all the concerned quarters in Sindh to wage a unified struggle against the project.

He opined that the federal government had unilaterally decided to build the canals on the Indus River. Rabbani said the federal government alone couldn't undertake such a sensitive project without consulting the provinces. He said the PPP knew what mode of protest to adopt if the federal government didn't change its decision.

Rabbani urged the federal government to immediately review this decision as per the aspirations of the concerned people of the province and the resolution unanimously passed by the Sindh Assembly.

PPP leader Waqar Mehdi, in his speech, lamented the non-implementation of the 1991 Water Accord. He said new farmlands shouldn't be built in the Cholistan desert at the cost of the farming sector in Sindh. He said the concerned farmers were highly upset because of this project.

PPP Karachi leader Jawed Nagori said farmlands of Sindh shouldn't be ruined to start farming in the Cholistan desert. He said Sindh had already been deprived of its due water share as per the 1991 Accord.

He said the PPP would continue to raise this issue in the parliament and provincial assemblies. The PPP also held rallies and protest demonstrations in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Nawabshah divisions against the plan to build six canals from the Indus River.

A protest rally was taken out from the District Council to the Press Club in Hyderabad, led by PPP Sindh President Nisar Khuhro, Sindh Information Secretary Ajiz Dhamra and Hyderabad Mayor Kashif Shoro.

Addressing the participants, Khuhro announced he would run a movement like that against the Kalabagh Dam against the six canals project. This protest is not for one day; therefore, in the second phase of the movement, protest sit-ins and demonstrations will be held at the tehsil level across Sindh.

He said PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would announced the next move of the party and division-level protest rallies would be held against the canals project. Khuhro said the PPP movement would continue until the federal government announced its withdrawal from the project, including the Cholistan canal.

He said that those who are criticizing the PPP today were sitting in the lap of dictator Pervez Musharraf in support of the Kalabagh Dam. One party had taken out rallies in Sindh in support of the Kalabagh Dam and former chief minister Liaquat Jatoi had organized rallies for Musharraf in support of that dam.

He said no approval has been taken from any constitutional forum for the canal project, so no one will be allowed to plunder the waters of Sindh. The Cholistan canal project is more dangerous than the Kalabagh Dam, which will make Sindh barren, he warned.

He said a CCI meeting should be convened to resolve the water dispute between the two provinces and the controversial canal project should be withdrawn after listening to the voice of the people of Sindh.

PPP leader Deputy Mayor Sagheer Qureshi, District Information Secretary Ehsan Abro Hyderabad, Zahid Bhurgari and Ijaz Khoso led the rallies. Protest rallies led by districts leadership were held in the district headquarters of Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Jamshoro, Thatta, Badin, Sujawal, Dadu, Tando Muhammad Khan, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Tharparkar, Nawabshah and Sanghar.