Qureshi blasts PPP for shedding ‘crocodile tears’ on issue of canals

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday criticised the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) over its stance on the controversial Cholistan canals project, accusing the Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari-led party of shedding “crocodile tears” on the matter.

“The PPP knew that the project featured six canals when it was approved. Why did the PPP not speak up when the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) issued a certificate of water availability?” questioned Qureshi while speaking to the media during his appearance in a case related to Jinnah House and Askari Tower attack case concerning the May 9 riots 2023.

The canals issue relates to the federal government’s plan to construct six canals on the Indus River to irrigate the Cholistan desert — a project that was rejected by its main ally PPP, and other Sindh nationalist parties.

According to government sources, the estimated cost of the Cholistan canal and system is Rs211.4 billion and through the project, thousands of acres of barren land can be used for agricultural purposes, and 400,000 acres of land can be brought under cultivation. Expanding on the issue, the senior PTI leader, who was once part of the PPP himself, said that the Bilawal’s party only started protesting on the project when demonstrations sprung up in Sindh — by other parties and factions.

“Work on the canal construction project had been going on in six districts for a long time. No one spoke at that time when land was being acquired for the construction of canals,” Qureshi said while questioning what the PPP chairman was doing in Dubai at a time when people had taken to the roads in Sindh against the project.

The politician’s remarks are taken against the backdrop of the fact that almost all political and religious parties, nationalist groups and civil society organisations staged widespread rallies across Sindh against the controversial plan.

The Bilawal-led party has time and again expressed reservations over the project, with President Asif Ali Zardari cautioning the government that some of its unilateral policies are causing “grave strain” on the federation.

The project has resulted in somewhat of a verbal spat between the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) led Punjab government with the latter claiming that President Zardari had approved the project — a notion vehemently denied by the PPP.

With Bilawal warning that his party would not allow any “irresponsible decision” on water distribution and would resist any attempt to divide the country through controversial projects, Deputy PM Ishaq Dar has assured the PPP that Sind’s rightful share of water will not be affected by the project.

Meanwhile, reacting to the uproar in Sindh, by PPP and other nationalist parties, PM Shehbaz’s Adviser on Public and Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah has termed the opposition to the Cholistan canals “pointless” saying that the matter will be discussed in a serious environment at some point in the future and will be resolved through consensus.

The PM’s aide further reassured that the federal government would not take any unilateral action in this regard.