LARKANA: Dr Qadir Magsi, chairman of the Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party, on Saturday called Pakistan Peoples Party out on its position vis a vis canals project in the wake of Wapda chairman’s disclosure in statement that Council of Common Interests (CCI) had given a go-ahead with the consent of Sindh government to dig out six canals from the Indus River.

Dr Magsi told a press conference at Larkana Press Club and later a gathering of party workers at the main gate of Jinnahbagh that PML-N government was clinging onto power on the crutches of PPP.

He said the day Bliawal Bhutto-Zardari withdrew his support, the federal government would collapse. “We have embarked on a drive for creating awareness in Sindh against construction of six canals on the Indus and educating people on the drastic implications of the project on Sindh’s economy, ecosystem and other sectors of life,” he said.

He said that for the last four months STP was protesting on roads against the six canals and in this connection the party had staged a big sit-in at Babarlo bypass in Khairpur. He said that in the name of corporate farming about two million acre land in Sindh was being dished out to investors who would deny no access to locals. If Sindh government had that much extra land, why was it not allotting it to landless haris, he asked.

He said that PPP and PML-N were allies and if Bilawal was sincere he should get resolutions passed against the construction of canals from Sindh Assembly, Senate and National Assembly to generate pressure. If it happened the new canals issue would die out, he said.

Magsi recalled that Gen Zia, Gen Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif had also wished to force Kalabagh Dam upon Sindh but people stood resolutely against the dam’s construction and compelled them to back out, he said.

And now, he said, through direct cuts in Indus the river’s water would be deflected to irrigate Punjab’s deserts. In case the CCI approved the construction of controversial canals, would the 60 million Sindhis merely stand back and see and not react, he remarked.

He accused Wapda of always releasing fake figures about release of water flows downstream Kotri Barrage.

Magsi announced holding a big public meeting over the canals’ issue in Hyderabad on Feb 24 and invited people of Larkana to participate in it in large numbers.

‘Religion has nothing to do with abductions’

Magsi said that residents of Kashmore-Kandhkot, Jacobabad, Shikarpur and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts cried hoarse over fragile law and order and felt acutely insecure amid rise in incidents of kidnapping for ransom.

He said that criminals only targeted the wealthy and the well to do regardless of their religion. Therefore, in his opinion migration of Hindus to India was not an answer to kidnappings. Instead they should settle in Karachi, Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Larkana and other districts and carry on with their businesses, he said.

He said that leaving ones’ motherland on the pretext of kidnappings was not wise and criticised media’s reporting of such incidents terming it irrational. It was the need of the hour to fight against the crime collectively, he said.

He said that PPP leadership had managed general elections in 2024. In reality, the party had lost 30 per cent of seats in Sindh but later it maneuvered victories through gerrymandering, he said.

The party’s central leaders

Hyder Shahani, Gulzar Soomro, Nisar Kerio, Qadir Channa, Dr Ahmed Noonari, Khir Mohammad Magsi, Ahmad Nawaz Brohi and others spoke at the party’s gathering.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2025