Punjab PPP demands CCI meeting over canals’ issue

LAHORE:Pakistan People's Party Central Punjab General Secretary Syed Hassan Murtaza has said that he cannot say anything prematurely, but the PPP may take any extreme step, including leaving the government, on the canal issue.

Addressing a press conference at Punjab Secretariat on Monday, Hassan Murtaza said the rulers should convene a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to resolve the controversial issues.

PPP leaders, including Mian Misbah-ur-Rehman, Ayesha Nawaz Chaudhry, Rao Babar Jamil, Rana Abdul Aziz, Zeeshan Shami, Agha Taqi, Mian Atiq-ur-Rehman, and Hassan Ashraf Bhatti were also present on the occasion.

Hassan Murtaza said that the issue of canals is becoming more serious, and that these canals should not become another issue like the Kalabagh Dam. He said that everyone should work according to the agreed distribution formula of water. Some people are trying to make it a Sindh issue and put it in the cold storage but it is not an issue of a single province.

We are already suffering from water shortage. Where will the water go in the six canals? The country already has enough challenges. He warned that if there is any chaos, a tragedy may occur, what will happen if the CCI meeting is not convened on such a big issue? He emphasised that the President has not done anything against the national interest till date, it is not right to slander a person who raised the slogan of ‘Pakistan Khappe’.

Hassan Murtaza challenged that show any such paper or thing on which the President's signatures are inscribed, you are misleading people with propaganda, you yourself are spreading false news about the PECA. He said that the water that is being distributed is the right of our farmers. You want to see our farmers suffer in this exploitative system. You must have given tractors and solar panels to two thousand farmers, that too on subsidy but you also imposed 45 percent tax on the farmers. You have not listened to the concerns of the PPP till date," Hassan Murtaza further said.

"We have said a thousand times that the farmer is dying. For God's sake, be careful and give support price in consultation with the farmers. You give a facsimile to exporters, middlemen, traders and brokers but not to the farmers," he said. "PPP does not believe in blackmailing, but in consultation. It gives NFC awards and powers to the provinces through consultation. You can give free rein to terrorists but do not have the same sympathy for your farmers."

PPP Central Punjab general secretary sarcastically said, "What is the role of the rulers? Are foreign trips necessary or farmers' issues? May I ask, did you immediately decide on the canals, but did you build any new water reservoir? How much blood will they squeeze from this nation in the name of capacity charges?

Murtaza said that the PPP does not take advantage of any need or compulsion, the PPP is not in any danger from nationalists. PPP has never raised the slogan of ‘Jag Punjabi Jag’ and ‘Jag Sindhi Jag’. PPP believes in being Pakistani and is a symbol of federation, he said that if the PPP wanted to enjoy the government, we would all be the ministers but the PPP is trying to strengthen the federation even at the cost of its political gains.