KARACHI: Representatives of working-class women, political and human rights organisations on Monday announced a ‘Mehnatkash Aurat Rally’ on March 8 to mark International Women’s Day.

Speaking at a press conference here at the Karachi Press Club, they announced that thousands of women workers, farmers and victims of environmental destruction and anti-Sindh projects from across the province will participate in the rally.

The rally — with slogan ‘Class Resistance against the Looting of the Indus River, Our Land, and Our Environment’ — will begin at 3pm on March 8 from the Youth Auditorium and proceed to the Arts Council of Pakistan, they added.

They were of the view that working women were engaged in a continuous struggle for social, political and economic justice.

It was emphasised that the entire world, particularly Sindh, has been experiencing the devastating consequences of climate change and exploitative water and agricultural projects, threatening both human existence and the region’s ancient civilisation.

“Sindh’s 5,000-year-old civilisation has been pushed to the brink of economic, social, and environmental destruction due to the reckless policies of the ruling elite. Climate-induced floods and heavy rains have caused unprecedented devastation there, while the systematic plundering of the Indus River and agricultural lands has put millions of lives, and the region’s very existence, at risk,” they said.

It was stressed that the consequences of those policies were evident in the destruction of the ancient Indus Delta, the disappearance of the mangrove forests and the submergence of agricultural lands into the sea. The coastal villages and towns are being swallowed by the advancing sea, forcing millions to migrate. The lack of water, or its untimely availability, is turning fertile lands barren by reducing crop production, lowering cotton yields by as much as 25 per cent, and triggering a severe food crisis.

The cities have been facing acute water shortages, groundwater levels are depleting and unbearable heat waves are intensifying.

The speakers emphasised that Sindh had always resisted every act of water aggression. “It has been through mass resistance that the anti-Sindh and anti-environment Kalabagh Dam project was defeated. Even today, the construction of controversial canals, which rely on the theft of Indus River water, poses another grave threat,” they added.

They added that beyond water theft, agricultural lands were also being seized under the pretext of corporate farming. They said the grabbing of large-scale lands and water will have devastating consequences for Sindh’s cities, villages, coastal areas and millions of residents.

Given this dire situation, every citizen of Sindh, whether from the villages or cities, whether a farmer or a labourer, must recognise the looming threat and play their historical role. “That is why working-class women have decided to mark International Working Women’s Day with a strong stance against anti-Sindh water projects, land grabs under corporate farming, and the worsening environmental crisis,” they stated.

The press conference was addressed by Human Rights Commission of Pakistan chairman Asad Iqbal Butt, Nasir Mansoor of the National Trade Union Federation, Tahir Hasan Khan of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Zehra Khan of the Home Based Women Workers Federation and others.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2025