LAHORE, Feb 23 The decision by the Punjab irrigation secretary to close down Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal on Monday violates water rights of the 'inhabitants' of southern Punjab enshrined in the constitution, said Pakistan Muslim League-Q's (PML-Q's) Mohsin Leghari on the floor of the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday.

Mr Leghari, who turned out to be the lone voice in the house, telling his tiny audience - 18 of them in a house of 368 members - that the stoppage of water would affect four million acres in the southern belt. He said four million acres meant at least one million families so how such an important decision could be left to a provincial secretary. Contrary to irrigation minister's claims made on the floor that the canal would not be closed the provincial secretary was writing the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) to close down the canal. Either the minister was ill-informed or he deliberately lied on the floor.

The speaker must help the house clarify the issue, he asked and added “Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, during his last appearance in the house, had assured the members against any compromise on the water rights. He also told (the house) that he would return to the house to brief the members on his meeting with the prime minister. Neither the chief executive returned to the house nor any of his representatives bothered to protect water rights of southern Punjab. Where should we take our case?”

The framers of the constitution knew the importance of water rights of every area in the country, said Mr Leghari in a passionate tone.

“That is why they inserted a full article (155), with six sub-clauses, in the constitution. The rights are given to inhabitants not to the provincial governments. They also asked the inhabitants to take their complaints to the Council of Common Interest for violation. When the authors of the constitution were so touchy about the issue, what should one say to those who left the process to a provincial secretary?”

He also denied the provincial government's claim that it was taking “additional water to south Punjab to compensate for closures of canals”. On Monday, IRSA drew 54,000 cusecs from the Indus arm (40,000 from Tarbella and 14,000 from the river Kabul). Of it, 30,500 cusecs were given to Sindh. The Punjab drew 30,000 cusecs from Mangla command and southern belt got only 9,896 cusecs and the rest went to the northern part. Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, speaking on behalf of the government, said that it was not a matter of “surrendering Punjab's water right, but only to accommodate brotherly federating unit.