HYDERABAD, July 15: Leaders of the Anti-Greater Thal Canal Action Committee have reaffirmed their pledge that the struggle against the project will continue till it is shelved.

They were talking to editors of Sindhi language newspapers at a luncheon meeting here on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, the convener of the action committee and the president of the People’s Party Parliamentarians, Sindh, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, said undemocratic forces first took over the administration of the country by force and then initiated what he called the anti-Sindh Thal canal project.

He said protest against the canal project would not only continue on the floor of assemblies but also on the streets in Sindh.

He claimed that the PPP, Punjab, and the people and democratic forces of the province were with Sindh against the Thal canal.

Mr Khuhro said the rulers were trying to harm the unity of the country by initiating projects like the Thal canal and the Kalabagh dam. He, however, said conspiracies of the rulers would not succeed.

He warned that the people of Sindh would stop the flow of water in the canal if the project was continued with.

Awami Tehrik chief Rasool Bux Palijo accused the federal government of partisan attitude.

He criticized the Water and Power Development Authority and its chairman, Gen Zulfiqar Ali Khan, for undertaking the project despite reservations of Sindh.

Mr Palijo alleged that the powers were creating hatred and disharmony among the provinces to safeguard their own vested interests.

He said those leaders, who were betraying the people of the smaller provinces, should be taken to task.

Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party chairman Dr Qadir Magsi said the fight against the Thal canal and the Kalabagh dam by the people of Sindh would continue till it was won.

He said Sindh’s agriculture would ruin if the canal was constructed.

The Pakistan Muslim League-N, Sindh, president, Imdad Chandio, said the president of the PML-N, Punjab, and the central president, Javed Hashmi, had also rejected the canal project. He said it were the generals who had planned greater Thal canal and Kalabagh dam projects against national interests.

He slammed political parties of the province that were not supporting the anti-Thal canal struggle.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Taj Mohammad Nahyoon of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F), Abdul Waheed Qureshi of the Jamaat Islami and Ayub Shar of the Sindh National Front.

The editors who attended the meeting included Naz Sehto (Sham), Khalid Khokhar (Sindhu), and Mahesh Kumar (Halchal). Iqbal Mallah represented “Awami Awaz”, Aziz Soomro “Koshish” and Atta Rajar “Kawish”.