LARKANA, Dec 13: The nationalist, federalist and religious leaders of Sindh were on Wednesday unanimous in their rejection of the proposed construction of Kalabagh Dam with many going as far as terming it a “death warrant for Sindh”.

Addressing a large rally organised by Anti-Thal Canal Action Committee, the leaders of Pakistan People’s Party, Awami Tehrik, Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam whose parties make up the committee resolved to make joint efforts to stop the government from going ahead with its anti-Sindh projects.

PPP Sindh President Syed Qaim Ali Shah said: “We will force the rulers through rallies and demonstrations in every nook and corner of the country to abandone all the anti-Sindh projects,” he reiterated.

AT chief Rasool Bakhsh Palijo came down hard on generals and said that the generals had committed ‘blunders’ throughout Pakistan’s history.

He threw into doubt Gen Musharraf’s claim of giving water to Sindh saying “he (General) is deceiving and befooling people”.

Mr Palijo criticised Muttahida Qaumi Movement for its duplicity, urged feudal lords not to go after ministries and advised the Sindh chief minister to disassociate from Gen Musharraf who he charged had planned to devastate the province.

The leader of opposition in Sindh Assembly Nisar Khuhro argued that when Sindh Assembly’s resolution for the creation of Pakistan had been accepted then what was preventing the government from acknowledging the same assembly’s resolution against the construction of Kalabagh dam.

The general was devoid of courage to face people without uniform, he said and added “the moment you (president Musharraf) shed uniform people will force you out.”

STPP Chairman Dr Qadir Magsi called River Indus the ‘lifeline’ of Sindh and said that if it dried up it would turn the province into a ‘valley of death’.

He blamed rulers for ‘enforced disappearances’ of political workers, sale of Sindh’s islands and restricting Sindhis from serving in Karachi and lashed out at MQM for its opportunistic politics.

Senator Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro of JUI said that his party would oppose all the anti-Sindh projects. The construction of Kalabagh Dam was against the injunctions of Islam, which reserved the tail-enders’ right of first use of water.

Abdul Latif Bughio of Sindh National Front, PPP District President Ayaz Soomro and Babu Sarfaraz Jatoi of PML-N also addressed the rally.

RALLY: A large rally with thousands of activists of the component parties of Anti-Greater Thal Canal Committee started its march from the Police Training School Larkana and converged in front of Jinnahbagh Gate.