HYDERABAD, April 4: The Centre for Peace and Human Development (CPHD) arranged a meeting of the members of the Sindh Water Committee (SWC), intellectuals and technocrats of Sindh with the Amnesty International’s international secretariat representative, Dr Angelika Pathak, at Karachi, on Wednesday.

The members of the SWC, intellectuals and technocrats of Sindh gave detailed presentation on the history of water dispute between Sindh and Punjab, current shortage of water in Sindh, illegal construction of the Thal canal and biased role of the federal institutions in dealing with the dispute, and economic hardships caused to the people of Sindh on account of the artificial shortage of water.

The Amnesty International (AI) was told that the water shortage was artificial and many cities of Sindh were protesting against the shortage of water even for drinking purposes.

The AI was informed that despite guarantees in the constitutional and legal framework, the greater Thal canal project was approved and its construction work had started before the file was even moved through the legal forums like the CDWP and Ecnec.

The delegation claimed that the chairman of the Wapda had told a group of editors and journalists from Sindh in Lahore that the Thal canal would not be constructed without the consent of riparians, especially Sindh, whereas the work had been going on for the last six months.

The AI was informed that the world over the principle of filling dams was that only extra water was stored, but in case of the Mangla Dam, the water was stored even when Sindh was in dire need of water for early Kharif.

About 100,000 families of fishermen have been rendered jobless because of the record decrease in fish catch. Another 200,000 people, living in coastal belt, have lost their livelihood due to sea intrusion on cultivable lands.

Apart from that, 100,000 families of the rivreine areas have also lost sources of livelihood, leading to massive migration from the rural areas.

The delegation appealed to the AI to come to the help of beleaguered people of Sindh.

It also appealed to the AI to use its influence to rescue the civilization of the Indus Valley.