GDA appeals to people of Karachi to support movement against canals project

The Sindh president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional and chief coordinator of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Syed Sadruddin Shah Rashdi, on Friday announced the alliance’s support for Saturday and Sunday’s rallies opposing the construction of six new canals on the Indus River.

The rallies will be held from Sakrand to Hyderabad on April 5 and in Karachi on April 6 where a protest demonstration would be held at 4pm in front of the Karachi Press Club. Rashdi directed the Functional League and GDA workers to actively participate in the rallies.

“We will neither allow canals to be built on the Indus nor will the Pakistan Peoples Party government continue. We are not against the development of any province, but we cannot accept the prosperity of one province at the cost of turning another into a desert,” the GDA president said.

Addressing an Eid Milan party at the Functional League House in Karachi, he called upon the people of Karachi to join the ongoing protest to save the Indus River, adding that the people of Sindh know how to protect their interests.

The event was attended by Sindh GDA General Secretary Dr Safdar Abbasi, Functional League Secretary General Sardar Abdul Rahim, Abdul Karim Shaikh, district presidents and secretaries of the Functional League and others.

Rashdi stated that the hypocritical policies of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) were no secret. Terming the PPP ‘Zardari League’, he said it itself approved the extraction of canals from the Indus and was now protesting against it.

He added that Karachi was the capital of Sindh, and if the Indus River was compromised, its consequences would also affect Karachi. “What kind of justice is it to ruin already inhabited areas to populate desert lands?”

He urged the people of Karachi to struggle for the survival and safety of the Indus River and stated that the protest movement against the canals would be expanded further. He also noted that similar projects had failed in neighbouring countries and asked how they could succeed in Pakistan.

“Transporting Sindh's water to desert areas through canals will not benefit Sindh—it will only deprive it of water,” he said. “We are not against any province’s development, but injustice must not be done by turning another province barren. True federal strength lies in fairness and equal treatment.”

The GDA leader emphasised that the people of Karachi must rise to protect the Indus so that water remained available for the Karachi residents. He warned that any conspiracy to stop drinking water for Karachi would be thwarted. “Thousands of acres of Sindh's land have already turned barren due to lack of water—those lands must be provided with water first,” he demanded.

The GDA information secretary explained that a rally would be held from Sakrand to Hyderabad on April 5 and in Karachi on April 6, culminating in a protest outside the Karachi Press Club with full public participation.

Rahim added that the people of Karachi must support the movement to save the Indus River, explaining: “Karachi’s water doesn’t come from a natural spring—it comes from Keenjhar Lake, which the Indus feeds. If the Indus dries up, Karachi will face a severe water crisis.”

He also addressed the misconception that it was an issue of interior Sindh, clarifying that “this is not just a local matter — it affects all of Sindh.”

He asked how turning fertile lands of Sindh barren could be justified for populating Cholistan’s sandy deserts. “If the People's Party is sincere with Sindh, it must announce its separation from the federal government,” he said.