March 4, 2002	Monday	Zilhaj 19, 1422

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LARKANA, March 3: A large number of the activists of the Pakistan People’s Party took out a protest rally here on Sunday against the construction of greater Thal Canal.

The participants of the rally after marching on various roads of city converged at Mirokhan Chowk. They were carrying placards and banners which read slogans against the construction of the Canal and any other project over River Indus.

Haji Munawwar Abbasi and Shafqat Hussain Unnar, who led the rally, and others spoke on the occasion.

They demanded the immediate withdrawal of the plan to construct Thal Canal and termed the project anti-Sindh and harmful for provincial harmony.

They maintained that the people of Sindh had more rights over the water of Indus River and blocking Indus water without the consent of people of Sindh was like creating a sense of isolation and deprivation in the province.

They demanded of the federal government to immediately withdraw from the designs of blocking Indus water and demanded due share of water for Sindh.

SNF: The digging of the Thal Canal is tantamount to digging a grave for Sindh as it will destroy the province.

This was said by Ameer Bakhsh Bhutto, central leader of the Sindh National Front (SNF), in a press statement issued here on Sunday.

He said that the severe shortage of irrigation water had already inflicted Sindh and the brackish sea water had taken millions of acres of fertile agricultural land in the coastal areas of Thatta and Badin districts.

He said that when the Chashma-Jehlum Link Canal was constructed, it was agreed that it would only be operated during the periods of high flood, but this promise was never honoured and Punjab continued to take water from the canal.

He said now with the construction of the Thal Canal, Punjab would have legal authority to operate the Chashma-Jehlum Link Canal, of which the Thal canal would be a branch.