Gearing up for the Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) upcoming public meeting in Hyderabad against the canals project, MPA Faryal Talpur, on Sunday, asserted that her party will never allow the six canals to be built on the Indus River.
"The PPP, workers of the PPP, and the people of Sindh won't let these canals be built," she averred at a public meeting at the Rawal House, the residence of Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon.
She asked the centre what it is up to. "You want to turn a desert, Cholistan, into a green land by uprooting a garden like Sindh?" she questioned. She pointed out that sometimes attempts are made to foist controversial water projects like the Kalabagh dam and Thal canal on the people of Sindh, and now the federal government wants to bleed Sindh by constructing six canals on the Indus.
Talpur wondered why the centre is so adamant to deprive the people of Sindh of their water. "This isn't just our problem but it is a problem for the whole of Pakistan because if such tactics continue, Sindh will wake up," she cautioned. The PPP leader reiterated that her party does not want to see any issue affecting the federation as they have always offered sacrifices for the country.
"But we don't want to see people in Karachi not get water for drinking and the farmers in rural Sindh not receive water for cultivating their crops. The PPP will fight against it." She urged the people to attend the PPP's April 18 public meeting, which will be addressed by the party's chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, in large numbers so that a strong message can be sent to the corridors of power in Islamabad.
She reiterated that her brother, President Asif Ali Zardari, had unequivocally stated in a speech before the parliament that the canals should not be constructed, while the party's chairman had also expressed rejection of the same project on April 4.
The Senior Sindh Minister Memon affirmed that the contentious issue of canals is not limited to affecting some agricultural lands or the cultivation of crops, rather it pertained to the lives of 70 million people of Sindh. He explained that the subsoil water in Sindh is overwhelmingly brackish, unlike other provinces, and that the province's entire population of humans and livestock, as well as the agriculture sector, depended on the river water.
"Do you want to kill 70 million people due to thirst by robbing their water?" he posed a question to the federal government. "Do you want to see these people die of thirst?" He said the PPP will never make a compromise on the canal issue.
The Senior Minister also criticised opposition parties in Sindh, saying Pakistan Muslim League-Functional of Pir Pagara used to hold rallies in favour of the Kalabagh dam project during former army chief, late Pervez Musharraf's, regime. He argued that President Zardari is being unjustifiably criticised for approving the canals because the presidency, as per the constitution, holds no authority for sanctioning or rejecting development schemes.
The PPP Sindh's President, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, warned the centre to desist from stirring a clash between Sindh and Punjab over the water issue because KPK and Balochistan are already coping with serious issues. He said Sindh's lawyers, students, teachers, farmers, labourers, and even children, are all saying in one voice that the six canals are unacceptable. "Pakistan has suffered a lot of losses. Can't the government sacrifice a canal for the sake of 70 million people?"
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ