HYDERABAD/THATTA: Sindh United Party (SUP) senior vice president Roshan Buriro has announced a series of 24-hour hunger strikes, beginging from  Hyderabad on Dec 20, followed by Sukkur on Dec 22, Larkana on Dec 24, Nawabshah on Dec 26, Mirpurkhas on Dec 28 and Karachi on Dec 30 in protest against the federal plan to create six canals from the Indus.

Speaking at a news conference in the Hyderabad Press Club on Tuesday, he said the Sindh chief minister and PPP’s parliamentarians were only paying lip service to the issue while, according to him, the spade work had already started on the project. He said the plan was a conspiracy to render Sindh’s lands barren.

He said the SUP had accelerated the pace of its agitation against the project by starting the 24-hour hunger strikes schedule. 

He urged civil society, intellectuals, political activists, journalists, writers and poets to play their role in this regard and become part of this struggle. He repeated his party’s claim that President Asif Ali Zardari chaired a meeting in the Presidency on July 8 regarding the new canals.

He said Mr Zardari had unconstitutionally ap-proved the project, which would irrigate new 3.5m acres command area through Greater Thal Canal, Cholistan Canal, Chashma Right Bank Canal, Kachhi Canal, Reni Canal and Thar Canal.

He said that besides those canals, three new dams, -- Shah Jeewra, Mid Ranjha and Chiniot -- were also approved. He informed that the dams would cumulatively store 3.58MAF of water. He said that 1.8m acres and 6.1m acres would be cultivated through the Greater Thar Canal and Cholistan Canal command area, respectively, as per the plan. He said that collectively eight million acres in Punjab would be cultivated through these two canals.

He maintained that the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) had always reported shortage in the river system, and said that historically shortage had been reported in Sindh since 1991 to 2023 and the province received 20pc less water given its share in that period.

He stated that the desert area of Punjab would be made cultivable through these canals and resultantly lands in Sindh would turn barren as water from the Indus River basin would be forcibly transferred to that area.

He claimed that the Sindh’s agriculture sector would be destroyed and water flows downstream Kotri Barrage would not be available. He said the Indus delta, wildlife and mangroves would be destroyed. 

The SUP leader said that lands in Thatta and Sujawal districts would be devoured by the sea, which would trigger migration of local communities from those areas towards cities. He said it could cause lawlessness and unemployment. 

He maintained that groundwater in Tando Mohammad Khan, Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad would become brackish while the people of Karachi would face a crisis of sweet drinking water.

He deplored that the entire planning was done by President Asif Zardari, who belonged to Sindh, only to perpetuate his rule, evade accountability and to make his son Bilawal Bhutto prime minister. He termed it a bargain over Sindh’s thousands of years old civilisation and economic murder of millions of the people of Sindh.

He said the SUP had launched struggle from day one. He said SUP president Syed Zain Shah had contacted all religious, political and nationalist parties, besides farmers’ organisations, for a joint struggle. He said 12 parties were part of an alliance which had been working for the last four months on this burning issue.

STP gives strike call

Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP) chairman Dr Qadir Magsi, addressing a news conference in the Thatta Press Club on Tuesday, gave a call for Sindh-wide shutterdown strike on Wednesday (December 18) against the federal plan to create six canals to be fed through the Indus.

He appealed to all businessmen, traders, shopkeepers and vendors across Sindh to keep their businesses shut to make the strike a success.

He said that all citizens in the province must join the protest in order to demonstrate unity against this federal plan, which was bound to lead to their “economic murder”.

The STP chief said that the operation of these canals would have devastating consequences for the over 60 million people of Sindh. “Our livelihoods are at stake. There will be no drinking water available to them,” he warned, and said the project would push Sindh towards famine and destroy its agriculture sector.

After execution of this six canals projects, no water would flow downstream Sukkur Barrage, leaving Karachi and 80pc of the rest of Sindh dry.

Dr Magsi strongly criticised Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for not making practical moves to get the project shelved.

He observed that the PPP had not taken up the issue at any forum; it was focusing only on ways to make Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari the prime minister.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2024