HYDERABAD, June 7: A joint meeting of the Sindh Democratic Party, Servants of Sindh Society and Sindhu Agriculture Forum, held here on Thursday, rejected the proposal to place the Thar canal project before ECNEC which is scheduled to meet on Saturday.

Speaking at a joint news conference at the press club here on Friday, advocate Yousuf Leghari, Muhammad Ibrahim Joyo, Amanullah Khan Talpur, Nazeer Memon and others demanded of the Sindh government to oppose the move strongly.

They urged the provincial government to get the project rejected if the placed before the ECNEC.

They declared that construction of any dam on Indus river was unacceptable to the people of Sindh who had not authorized anyone even to discuss such projects.

They were of the considered view that the ECNEC meeting was just an eyewash and a formality to hoodwink the people and give legality to the illegal project.

“We consider the ECNEC meeting as absolutely illegal and it is not binding on the people of Sindh,” they declared adding that ECNEC had been constituted illegally.

The leaders argued that ECNEC had no jurisdiction to approve such projects, the people of Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP have already rejected such projects through resolutions adopted by respective assemblies as well as the mass protest movement against the greater Thal canal and other such projects.

They further said that the Council of Common Interest (CCI) had also rejected the project and therefore ECNEC, which was a subordinate body, had no authority to approve the project. So much so, they pointed out, the federal government had taken no decision on this issue and as such the ECNEC could not even consider the project.

They said that the decision in this regard had been taken by invisible powers and some work had already been completed.

The leaders claimed: “It is known to all and sundry that the ECNEC meeting is being convened to stamp the decision of the invisible government.”

They recalled that the greater Thal canal did not form the part of the 1991 water accord and accused Punjab of forgery in inserting this project in the ten-dailies report. They said that Sindh had strongly opposed it at that time and the CCI had also rejected it on the ground that it violated the water accord.

The leaders of the three parties alleged that ‘in a clandestine manner’ Punjab again inserted the Thal canal project illegally in the Wapda’s vision 2025 and started its construction without an approval from the CDWP and ECNEC and without referring it to the Irsa which is the constitutional forum for the distribution of water.

They said that the Wapda chairman himself had categorically stated on several occasions that the canal would not be constructed without getting certification from the Irsa and without the approval of the CDWP and ECNEC.

They regretted that the chairman went back on his promise and started the construction of canal.

When the people of Sindh raised their voice against the brazen violation of rules of business of the federal government, the alleged, Punjab obtained post-dated approval from the said forums through manipulation.

They charged that Punjab had got most of the water projects at the cost of Sindh during the military, quasi-military or authoritarian political governments.

They held the federal government equally responsible in the ‘illegal and unconstitutional’ approval of the Thal canal and said that Wapda was the prime culprit in the crime against the people of Sindh.

The federal government, they added, was also responsible for the growing disharmony between Sindh and Punjab.

The leaders urged the Sindh government to present the case forcefully with documentary evidences it possessed to get the project rejected.

They took strong exception to the reports that the federal government, through the Wapda chairman, had reopened the dead issue of Kalabagh dam and had constituted a committee comprising some intellectuals and technocrats of Sindh to discuss the feasibility of the dam and other projects and suggest amendments.