Villagers hold vigil to prevent canal breach
Men armed with shotguns, axes, clubs, or anything they could grab took positions on the bank of a canal passing near their village in Daulatpur to prevent "unidentified" people from making a cut in the overflowing water channel.
In many areas of flood-hit Sindh, armed men are allegedly breaching canals and embankments to save the estates of mighty landlords at the cost of poor villages.
In one such incident, villagers of Daulatpur woke up at midnight to the alarm raised by boys guarding the canal lest it might overflow and cause a flood. However, instead of flood, the threat was a deliberate act of sabotage. As the news of attempted breach in Daulatpur canal spread, armed people from different communities, including Bhattis, Dahris, Odhos, Rahus, Zaradris and Soomros, reached the surging banks of the canal.
Hundreds of people from more than 50 villages - some having old grudges and conflicts ¬ stood united to protect their area from an imposed flood.
Most vulnerable among the villages were Dino Mashin, Kamil Puli, Mir Muhammad Otho, Khuda Bakhsh Otho, Abdul Wahid Otho, and Baqi Zardari. Angry villagers said that they would neither evacuate their houses nor would they allow anyone to breach the canal.
While brandishing axes and shotguns, they said any attempt to crack the canal between Dino Mashin and Aliabad villages will meet stiff resistance and the Irrigation Department engineer concerned would be put up and in case of any loss of life, the engineer concerned and his staff would be held responsible.
Meanwhile, former MPA Dr. Bahadur Khan Dahri also reached Daulatpur Canal at night to show solidarity with the locals. On this occasion, Dr. Dahri, while talking to journalists, said that he has asked Engineer Iftikhar Langah not breach Daulatpur canal.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 1st, 2022.