Irrigating Cholistan will render Sindh barren, say PPP leaders

A torch-bearing rally was held in the Lyari area of Karachi under the auspices of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Wednesday evening against the proposed government plan of building new irrigation canals on the Indus River.

The participants of the rally were addressed by PPP leaders Najmi Alam, Yousuf Baloch who is also an MPA from Lyari, and Jawed Nagori.

The PPP leaders told the participants that their party had decided to support the formation of the incumbent federal government after the last general elections just for the sake of democracy without demanding a cabinet portfolio.

They said the PPP would continue to support continuity of the democratic dispensation in the country while at the same time they would vocally oppose the construction of new canals on the Indus River.

They said the Sindh government of the PPP had urged the centre to immediately convene a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CII) to discuss the controversial canals' project.

They said that their party would never accept any conspiracy against the longevity and survival of Sindh's rich cultural heritage and civilisation.

The PPP leaders expressed the fear that the construction of the new canals on the Indus River would simply ruin farming activities in Sindh. They added that stopping the flow of the Indus River towards Sindh meant denying one of the fundamental rights of the dwellers of the province.

They said that hundreds of thousands of acres of green farmlands would be rendered barren if new canals were built to commence farming activities on a few acres of land in Cholistan.

They informed the audience that every worker and supporter of the PPP would actively wage the struggle against the construction of new canals. They said the supporters of the canals' project didn't like the continuity of the democratic dispensation in the country.

They recalled that Sindh was the first province whose assembly had passed a resolution in favour of founding Pakistan for Muslims of the Indian Sub-continent.