HYDERABAD, Oct 23: The Anti-Greater Thal Canal and Anti-Kalabagh Dam Action Committee at its public meeting held at the Haider Chowk here on Thursday night demanded that the work on the “illegal, unconstitutional and immoral” greater Thal canal should be stopped forthwith.
The meeting was attended by thousands of people from all over the Sindh province.
The resolutions adopted at the meting with the name of “declaration” further demanded that Chashma-Jehlum and Taunsa-Panjnad link canals should be closed, Sindh be compensated for its share of water.
The meeting demanded that the Kalabagh dam should be shelved forever and no dam be constructed on the Indus river or its tributaries till the issues relating to water were settled.
It called for the permanent settlement of the water issue under the aegis of the UN and OIC and Saarc.
The declaration said construction of the Gawadar seaport should be stopped till the consent of the people of Balochistan was obtained.
It called upon the people of the country to help Sindh in resisting attempts by President Gen Pervez Musharraf and his government who were acting in a partisan way and were creating a rift among the provinces.
It also demanded that international donar agencies should not help the federal government in carrying out the disputed water projects.
Calling for ensuring the provincial autonomy, the declaration said the ruling circles were pursuing anti-people policies that had endangered the solidarity of the country.
The meeting also accused army generals of misappropriating resources of the country.
Asfandyar Wali Khan (Awami National Party), Baloch leaders Hasil Bazenjo and Habib Jalib, Qasim Zia (Punjab People’s Party Parliamentarians), Saleem Zia and Zain Ansari (Pakistan Muslim League-N), MNA Asadullah Bhutto (Jamat-i-Islami), Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, N. D. Khan, Raza Rabbani, Nuzhat Pathan, Farheen Mughal and Sassui Palejo (Sindh PPP), Rasool Bux Palejo (Awami Tehrik), Dr Qadir Magsi (Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party), Gula Mohammad Jakhrani (Sindh National Front), Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro (Jamiat Uema-i-Islam-F), Siraiki leader Abdul Majeed Kanju and leaders of different other parties attended the meeting.
CONVENTION: The Association of People of Asia, Pakistan chapter, is holding its first convention at a hotel here on Friday.
Nirmala Deshpande, former member of the Indian Parliament and India APA chairperson, will be the chief guest and Sindh Law College principal Ahmad Ali Shaikh will preside over the convention.
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