KARACHI: Hunger strike against controversial projects
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, Aug 23: Some intellectuals and members of the civil society on Saturday observed a token hunger strike to protest against what was termed the federal government’s arm-twisting measures to coerce the Sindh government on the issue of construction of the Greater Thal Canal and Kalabagh Dam.
The Forum for Conflict Resolution had organized the protest event outside the Karachi Press Club in which Ibrahim Joyo, besides representatives of the various political parties, NGOs and journalists’ bodies, took part.
The participants of the event appealed to the elected representatives of Sindh, political parties, media, civil society organizations, NGOs and common citizens of the province to counter the government’s moves.
In a statement adopted on the occasion, the participants expressed their “deep sense of sorrow and resentment” by observing a hunger strike against attempts to impose Greater Thal Canal and advocacy of Kalabagh Dam on the province.
Rejecting the strong-arm tactics by the centre to force the lower riparian province to give in on GTC and Kalabagh Dam, they maintained that the two projects would obstruct the natural and free flow of the Indus which is known as the mainstay of life in Sindh.
They pointed out that the people of Sindh had unanimously rejected these projects on the floor of the Assembly and other forums and had vowed not to allow anyone to deny the Sindhis their right to live in dignity.
They claimed that both the projects — the Greater Thal Canal and Kalabagh Dam — would transform two million acres of rich and fertile land, forests and wetlands along the Indus into a desert.
They claimed that about two million acres of fertile land of the province had already been lost to the sea’s intrusion. “The Indus delta has already died due to shortage of water for the down-stream Kotri,” they maintained.
“(The land) is too fragile to trust the assurances of an individual for any consequential equal distribution of water, who controls the absolute power and protects the interest of upper riparian party especially when water distribution among the provinces is made on the basis of a phony, non-existent and self-made water formula of 1994,” the statement said.
Whatever means the Musharraf regime employed, the people of Sindh believed that the aim was to please Punjab through the “infamous” projects, the protesters maintained, adding the province was suffering a loss of billions of rupees through an unfair NFC award under the presidency of Gen Musharraf.
The strikers were of the view that the construction of the Thal Canal was being undertaken in total disregard to the opposition from Sindh that had been articulated by the elected representatives in the unanimous resolutions adopted on the floor of the Sindh Assembly.
They claimed that thousands of people in Sindh had lost their jobs due to the “discriminatory policies” of Musharraf’s government. Urban as well as rural land, worth billions of rupees, had been given to the DHA schemes and army personnel alike.
The protesters rejected the government’s claim that the disaster of overflow of rain and seawater in lower Sindh was caused by surplus water in the Indus. The truth was that Badin, Thatta, Dadu and few other areas of Sindh had been inundated due to heavy rain, back-flow of seawater through the tidal link of the LBOD and other surface drains, they claimed.
Meanwhile, Sardar Rahim, Nihal Hashmi and Mazhar Magsi of the PML(N) joined the protest against the GTC and KBD. Sardar Ibrahim said the time had come to draw a line between friends of Sindh and others. He said Gen Musharraf’s unilateral announcements on Kalabagh Dam would create dissension among the people of Pakistan.
