Sindh lawyers announced on Tuesday that they were ending all the province’s sit-ins, with the exception of the Baberlo bypass protest in Khairpur, after the Common Interest Council (CCI) rejected the controversial project of new industrial channels.
After the CCI’s decision, the celebrations broke out at the Baberlo Bypass sit-in, where demonstrations had entered their 12th day. The demonstrators qualified the rejection by the CCI of the Canal project a major victory for the unity and resistance of Sindh.
The Sindh lawyer’s action committee confirmed that tribunal strikes would officially end from April 30 and that sit-ins in places such as Karachi, Kandhkot, Ghotki and other districts had concluded.
However, the Baberlo sit-in will continue for the moment because several additional requests have not been resolved.
Lawyer Sarfraz Metlo said the action committee would hold interviews with Sindh government officials in Sukkur to put pressure on new requests, including the abolition of business agriculture, the withdrawal of affairs against protest lawyers and the return of seized vehicles.
A decision concerning the Baberlo sit-in will be made after these negotiations.
The president of the Karachi Bar Association, Aamir Nawaz Warraich, said that if the protest of Baberlo persists, she no longer disturbs the flow of traffic.
He reiterated the request that corporate agricultural projects be also canceled following the government’s withdrawal from the new channel project.
The Common Interest Council (CCI) rejected the federal government’s proposal on Monday to build new industrial river channels, reversing a previous decision by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) taken in February.
“No new canal will be built without mutual understanding and consensus among all the provinces,” said a release from the Prime Minister’s office after the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The high-level meeting, convened early at the request of the Sindh government, was followed by the chief ministers of the four provinces, the Darrier Minister Ishaq Dar, the Minister of Defense Khawaja Asif, the federal minister Ameer Muqam and other officials.
