Sindh: Faryal Talpur, the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), said on Sunday that her party will not support the construction of additional canals across the Indus River. According to Dawn, she said that they did not want turmoil in Sindh and warned that if such problems persisted, the whole province would rebel.
Amid public outrage and significant objections in Sindh, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Pakistan’s Chief of the Army Staff General Asim Munir launched the Cholistan project on February 15 to irrigate the fields in south Punjab.
The federal government’s USD 3.3 billion Green Pakistan Initiative (GPI) to build six canals to irrigate 1.2 million acres of “barren land” in south Punjab has been met with opposition from the PPP, which controls Sindh, farmers, and other stakeholders.
According to Dawn, attorneys threatened to launch demonstrations against the federal government earlier this week if the proposed canal work in Cholistan was not halted within a week.
Talpur said that PPP members will not permit the construction of canals at a rally held on Saturday at the home of Senior Sindh Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon in Tando Jam. “It is a question of water, and it is a question of your livelihood,” she said.
She called the PPP a party of leaders who have given their lives, and she criticised the opposition for undervaluing it. Recalling Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s comments at the joint session of parliament, in which he voiced his opposition to canal development, she said, “We will fight till our last breath but will not allow the construction of these canals.”
“What are you going to do?” Talpur enquired. Will you ruin a garden in order to water a desert? “Where did this mindset actually come from?” she said. Dawn said that they asked what kind of politics this was.
According to PPP Sindh President Nisar Khuhro, people are aware of the circumstances in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “The PPP will not permit this attack on the province’s water supply, but there should be no conflict between Sindh and Punjab at this time,” he said. For this reason, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the chairman of the PPP, will speak at a public gathering.
He urged PPP employees to come to the April 18 gathering. According to Dawn, he said that the PPP had made sacrifices for the nation and that individuals were discussing the dissolution of Pakistan for the sake of a single canal.
Senior Minister Memon of Sindh also opposed the canals project, stating that agriculture, cattle, and water were the main drivers of the rural economy. He said, “And if you deprive us of these resources, then do you want to kill us of thirst?”
He criticised the PPP’s detractors, recalling that during the time of Pervez Musharraf as president of Pakistan, similar individuals were assembling for a demonstration in support of the Kalabagh Dam. He said that back then, the now-opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Functional had staged a demonstration in Sanghar in favour of the Kalabagh Dam. He said that the only reason these groups were involved in politics today was to spread propaganda against Zardari and mislead the public.
