Demand for closure of link canals in Punjab: Water shortage in Sindh
By Bureau Report
HYDERABAD, Dec 27: The Sindh Water Committee has termed the Chashma-Jhelum and Taunsa-Panjnad link canals, which are used to divert divert water from the Indus River to Punjab, illegal and demanded that they should be immediately closed.
At its recent executive committee meeting held here, the SWC condemned the diversion of water from the Indus River and resolved that the two canals in Punjab actually were constructed as flood canals.
Awami Tehrik chief Rasool Bux Palijo presided over the meeting. The meeting said Kalabagh dam and greater Thal canal projects were tantamount to genocide of the Sindhis. It observed that even the Tarbila dam was illegal.
The meeting accused Gen Pervez Musharraf of toeing the Punjab line in the construction of Kalabagh dam and greater Thal canal. It rejected the decision of Gen Pervez Musharraf on water projects and said he had no right to take such decisions.
It resolved to convene a water conference in Islamabad on Jan 25 to present a memorandum on water issue to ambassadors of foreign countries. It also resolved to hold a similar conference in Hyderabad on Feb 8.
The Jeay Sindh Mahaz-Z will observe a token hunger strike at district headquarters of Sindh on Jan 1 in protest against construction of Kalabagh dam and greater Thal canal projects and other problems confronting the province.
This was announced by party chairman Syed Zain Shah, vice- chairman Rasool Bux Thebo and organizing secretary Mansoor Khaskheli at a news conference at the press club here on Monday.
They said the JSM individually and from the platform of the Oppressed Nations Movement was striving to forge an alliance of all parties to launch a movement against what they called anti-Sindh water projects.
Mr Shah observed that Sindh enjoyed full political, economic, cultural and constitutional rights even during the British rule but these rights had been snatched today. He said Sindh had been deprived of its resources, including water share.
He regretted that three provincial assemblies had opposed construction of the Kalabagh dam but President Gen Pervez Musharraf was going ahead with the project. He claimed that the Thal canal was being constructed to irrigate lands of army personnel and added that it would render rich agricultural land of Sindh barren.
He said Sindhi people would resist construction of the water projects and appealed to the IMF and the Asian Development Bank not to release funds for the projects. The party chief said non-release of water downstream Kotri had led to inundation of millions of acres of coastal lands of Badin and Thatta districts by seawater and thousands of people had migrated from the area.
He said due to release of poisonous water by Punjab in the Left Bank Outfall Drain and the Right Bank Out fall Drain, Sindh was being destroyed. He called upon the international community to intervene in the matter. He asked Sindh ministers and landlords to give up their support for the water projects.
