'Sindh's water rights under threat'
Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) leaders holding a press conference at Pagara House in Karachi on Monday, February 12, 2024. SCREENGRAB
The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) has convened a high-level meeting of like-minded political parties on September 10 to counter the conspiracies being hatched at the Presidency to deprive Sindh of its water rights, bypassing the Council of Common Interest and other constitutional processes.
GDA's Information Secretary, Sardar Abdul Rahim, announced that a high-level consultative session of all Sindh-friendly political parties will be held at Functional League House, Karachi, on September 10. The session aims to discuss the amendments being made to Indus River System Authority (IRSA) laws under the supervision of Asif Ali Zardari at the Presidency, intending to steal water from the Indus River. Participants invited to the meeting include GDA Secretary General Dr. Safdar Abbasi, Syed Zain Shah, Ayaz Latif Palijo, Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party's Dr. Qadir Magsi, JUI-F's Rashid Mehmood Soomro, Jamaat e Islami's Mohd Hussain Mehnti, Jiye Sindh's Riaz Chandio, and other Sindh-friendly political parties. The meeting will have a detailed discussion on the efforts by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to deprive Sindh of its water rights. The September 10 opposition meeting will also decide on a plan to form a joint strategy and begin a collective struggle against this conspiracy to rob Sindh of its constitutional rights.
Rahim emphasised that Sindh, being the lower riparian, has the first right to the Indus River's water, but the anti-Sindh ruling political parties are trying to amend IRSA laws and seize Sindh's water to prolong their political power, which the conscious people of Sindh will never accept.
The September 10 meeting will be crucial in thwarting this conspiracy.