The Pakistan Peoples Party has an-nounced a month-long protest movement against alleged injustices being meted out to Sindh by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led federal government.
Addressing a press conference at the residence of Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro in Hyderabad on Sunday, PPP Sindh president Nisar Ahmed Khuhro in Hyderabad said that the party will organise protests in all cities of Sindh. The move-ment will start from September 5 and will conclude on October 2.Khuhro was flanked by Shoro, PPP Senator Taj Haider and others. PPP, which leads the provincial government in Sindh, leaders said they were inviting all political and social stakeholders in the province to become a part of their protests.
The PPP leaders cited alleged injustice with Sindh in the distribution of river water besides bad gover-nance, rising inflation, unemployment and poverty as the reasons behind their protest movement. "Presently artificial water shortage is being created in Sindh so that the province's agricultural economy can be dealt a severe blow," argued Khuhro.
He said that on the one hand inflation has led to prices of agricultural inputs rising manifold, espe-cially fertiliser and pesticides, while on the other hand water unavailability is turning fertile lands dry. Khuhro reiterated that the province is not even receiving its share as distributed under the Water Apportionment Accord 1991 even though Sindh had initially objected against that accord as well for reducing its share.
The PPP leader blamed the Centre for allowing Punjab to open its flood canals - the Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal and the Taunsa-Panjnad Link Canal - despite water scarcity. "A gross injustice is being done to Sindh but the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) is silent over the matter.
"He also pointed out that IRSA, in violation of its constitution, lacked representation from Sindh. He underscored that Sindh did not want a conflict with Punjab and that they were only demanding their due water share.
According to Khuhro, only the rice crop in Sindh, which fetched around Rs70 billion for the agro economy in the previous year, is projected to suffer tens of billions of rupees of financial loss due to low cultivation. He demanded that the incumbent IRSA chairperson be removed and Sindh should be given due representation in the authority.
Meanwhile, PPP Senator Taj Haider said the Senate standing committee on water resources has taken up the issue of the unfair distribution. However, he added, IRSA has been misguiding the committee with fudged figures.
"Under the water accord, dams are supposed to sup-ply water for agriculture purposes as the top priority while power generation has secondary importance," the senator contended. Similarly, Sindh Irrigation Minister Shoro recalled that a federal report submitted following a meeting of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) in 2018 had declared that the three-tier formula under which Sindh's water share has been reduced has no legal status. Senator Sassui Palijo, Waqar Mehdi, Aajiz Dhamrah and other PPP leaders were present on the occasion.
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