HYDERABAD: Qaumi Awami Tehrik (QAT) president Ayaz Latif Palijo has announced to stage protest hunger strikes from April 14 in three districts against Sindh government’s slackness to control sea intrusion in the coastal districts of Badin, Sujawal and Thatta.

Addressing a central standing committee meeting of his party on Monday, he said that due to non-release of sustainable flows of water downstream Kotri, the sea had devoured land in Badin, Thatta and Sujawal districts. He said the protest hunger strike would be observed on April 14 in Sujawal, April 15 in Thatta and April 16 in Badin. So far, millions of acres of land had been destroyed by the intruding sea, he added.

He said that despite protests by the people of Sindh, the Indus River System Authority was not ready to release flows of water downstream Kotri barrage and on the contrary objections were being raised that water was wasted in sea.

Such objections, he said, were always rejected by Sindh and despite settled principles, downstream flows of River Indus were not seen. He said that on the one hand, sea intrusion was taking place while on the other katcha area was being destroyed. So far, thousands of people had lost their livelihood dependent on fishing, he said.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2016