HYDERABAD, Jan 18: Leaders of component parties of the Anti-Greater Thal Canal and Kalabagh Dam Action Committee have reiterated their resolve not to accept any water project on the River Indus, saying the river is the lifeline of Sindh.

They were speaking at a huge rally at the Hyder chowk here on Wednesday.

Participants of the rally gathered from all parts of Sindh.

They marched to the Hyder chowk from the bypass chowk where they reached in the evening.

The rally was, however, marred by indiscipline as scuffles and altercation took place among workers of different parties while the leaders delivered speeches.

The workers started reaching the bypass chowk in separate processions. A large number of women, belonging to the Awami Tehrik dominated the show.

Worst traffic jams were witnessed at the bypass, National Highway and some main roads of the city. Shops along roads remained closed in Hirabad, Tilak Incline.

The participants were welcomed at different reception camps set up by the People’s Party Parliamentarians and other parties outside the Central Jail, Civil Hospital, St. Mary Girls High School and the Hyder chowk.

The convener of the action committee, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, warned the World Bank and IMF not to fund water projects because the money would not be returned by any future government.

He criticized President Gen Pervez Musharraf for not referring the issue of water projects to the Council of Common Interests and announcing construction of the Bhasha dam on his own. “How can a dam be built when there is no water,” he asked.

Accusing the president of defacing the constitution, the Sindh PPP chief pointed out that Gen Musharraf’s seven-point agenda did not contain the water issue but he included it in his priorities following his failure on the Kashmir issue.

He said the government had no right to build any dam and added that all parties were united on the issue.

AT chief Rasool Bux Palijo said Sindh was the co-sharer of six rivers as well as the Mangla Dam which had been ‘forcibly’ built but Liaquat Ali Khan had made no mention of Sindh in respect of the six rivers.

He was critical of President Musharraf’s alleged double standards, saying that on the one hand he was insulting Sindh and on the other, he was telling Sindhis that he was constructing dams for their benefit.

Mr Palijo condemned the US missile attack on Bajaur and army operations in Waziristan, NWFP, and Balochistan.

He alleged that the National Accountability Bureau had become a persecutor, instead of a prosecutor, and it was exercising powers beyond its jurisdiction.

He claimed that the people of Punjab were also angry with the establishment because they had been disposed of their lands in Okara.

Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party chief Dr Qadir Magsi said: “We believe the River Sindh has been our property for centuries and we will not let any water project built on it. We will keep fighting as long as water is stolen from the Indus”.

Referring to Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain’s telephonic speeches from London, felicitating people over shelving of the Kalabagh project, Dr Magsi blamed him for misguiding the people of Sindh, saying the president had unequivocally declared on Tuesday that five dams, including Kalabagh, would be built by 2016.

He asked Mr Hussain that if he was sincere with the people of Balochistan, his party should quit the government because the army operation in the province was continuing.

The leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, and the deputy leader of the opposition, Makhdoom Jamiluzzaman, praised people’s response to the protest call.

Mr Khuhro alleged that President Musharraf had defamed and isolated the country. He said people would foil his alleged conspiracies against the country.

He said that it was a victory of people and not Gen Musharraf that he retreated from his previous stand in his televised address.

Mr Jamiluzzaman accused the president of violating the constitution.

He termed the Kalabagh dam a matter of life and death for the province. He rejected both Kalabagh and Bhasha dams.

Awami National Party senior vice-president Ghulam Ahmad Bilour criticized the US air strikes in Bajaur agency.

“The army continues bombing in Balochistan. The issue basically relates to Balochs and is not a question of a few Sardars, who are in fact sitting in the government,” he maintained.

He called upon Pakhtuns, Balochs and Sindhis to unite for their rights.

Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal MNA Maulana Asadullah Bhutto alleged that the Pakistani government was hand in glove with the US in the recent air strikes in Bajaur.

He said that water and Kashmir issues were interlinked. He claimed that the president was bargaining on Kashmir, adding that India was constructing Wullar barrage which would affect water flow to Sindh.

MMA MPA Abdul Rehman Rajput said that today people had proved that they would not let anyone occupy the Indus and accept Kalabagh or Bhasha dam.

Sindh Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) general secretary Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro said that Tuesday night’s address of the president indicated the weakening of his stand on the water issue and attributed it to the action committee’s struggle.