Hyderabad:
Nationalist and anti-channel activists have put pressure on the Pakistani peoples party for the withdrawal of its support for the federal government. Responding to the pressure, the president of the PPP Sindh, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, said that the demonstration of his party’s street was the first step towards pressure from the government.
At a press conference in Hyderabad on Thursday, Khuhro reiterated that the PPP was criticized for strengthening the PML-N government and its policies.
“But, unlike, the fact is neither that we are not in the central government and we have no federal ministry.” He said that the only objective of the PPP behind what is perceived as the support of the government of the N-League is to see the continuity of democracy.
He argued that President Asif Ali Zardari does not have the power to sanction or reject projects concerning the construction of six new channels on the Indus River. He said the project had not been brought before the Parliament for approval either.
Khuhro said PPP reluctantly accepted the 1991 Water Agreement, but the outgoing government wants to change this agreement. He stressed that the Council of Common Interest (CCI) is the platform which is supposed to resolve disputes such as the sharing of water between the provinces. However, he regretted, the CCI meeting has not been summoned for years.
“More than 4 million acres of land downstream from the Kotri dam have become uncultivable because of the water shortage,” he deplored. “But I’m sad that the N-League learned nothing from the political storm that the Kalabagh dam had created in the country.” Khuhro also blamed the PML-N of having silently accepted the construction of the Thall canal by a military general. He explained that the water for the controversial channel of Cholistan, which aims to transform the desert region into a sprawling green region, will be taken from the Indus through the largest channel in Thall and the Sutlej river.
