Shazia Marri urges federal govt to scrap ‘ill-conceived’ canals project

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P) Spokesperson Shazia Marri has strongly denounced the federal government’s proposal to construct six new canals on the River Indus, calling it a reckless move in the face of an already dire water crisis affecting Sindh and Balochistan.

“The people of Sindh and Balochistan are grappling with acute water shortages, and the federal government must immediately withdraw this ill-conceived plan,” she said in a statement on Friday.

She reiterated PPP’s opposition to the project, noting that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has already issued a firm warning to the federal authorities over this controversial proposal. The PPP-P spokesperson accused the PML-N government of provoking public outrage by toying with a matter as sensitive as water. “This is not just a political issue—it’s a question of survival,” she said.

With water levels already dangerously low, she questioned the feasibility of the plan. “When the system is already facing a critical shortage, where exactly will the water for these new canals come from”, she asked. Shazia Marri asserted that the PPP will never allow the construction of six canals on the River Indus and warned that the proposal appears to be a deliberate attempt to create unrest in the country.

President Asif Ali Zardari, she noted, has also urged the federal government to reconsider and abandon the “unilateral and divisive decision”.

Shazia Marri vowed that PPP supporters would not back down until this “anti-people” scheme is scrapped. “Chairman PPP Bilawal stands shoulder to shoulder with the people—just as Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto firmly opposed the Kalabagh Dam.”