KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday gave assurance to the people of Sindh that the provincial government would get them their rights and would never move back from getting the 1991 Water Accord fully implemented in its true spirit.

While winding up the four-and-a-half-hour-long discussion on the water accord that continued till 8pm, the chief minister expressed gratitude to all the speakers across the house for pledging full support to the Sindh government to undo the ‘violation’ of the water accord by Punjab.

Sindh Health Minister Dr Sikander Mandhro initiated the discussion by tracing the history of the River Indus. His speech was followed by the speeches of Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmaker Syed Sardar Ahmad, PPP lawmakers Khairunnisa Mughal, Dr Sikander Shoro and Nisar Ahmad Khuhro in which they talked about recent history of the river and related agreements since the creation of Pakistan.

They highlighted the suffering of agriculturalists due to shortage of water downstream Kotri and said the water shortage had caused intrusion of over 2.2 million acres of agricultural land. The lawmakers were of the opinion that if 10 million-acre-foot (MAF) water was not released, the districts of Hyderabad, Thatta, Sujawal and Badin would be inundated by seawater by the year 2050. Karachi, where sea intrusion had already started from the Malir area, would sink into the sea by 2070.

Tracing the history of over half-a-dozen water accords since 1859 when for the first time Indus water system was disturbed, the chief minister of Sindh said every time the accord was signed, it used to be against the interest of the people of this area and despite objection from Sindh, their complaints had never been addressed.

Referring to the 1991 Water Accord, Mr Shah said one could very well understand the accord that had been prepared within a short period of three days was not flawless. It had certain flaws which could be removed only if the representatives of all federating units sit together, he said. But why would those getting advantage of the flaws in the water accord support any such move, he wondered.

Yet the least one could expect from them was that in whatever form the accord was, it should be properly implemented, he said.

The Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal and Greater Thal Canal, which had been dug up only to divert the spillover of floodwaters, were being used as regular canals by diverting water from Sindh’s share, the chief minister said.

Mr Shah said that negotiations on water that had started in 1952 culminated in the signing of the Indus Waters Treaty by President Gen Ayub Khan and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1960. Under the treaty, he said, the three eastern rivers from Punjab were diverted to India. But Punjab later covered this loss by taking water from the Indus.

Responding to the criticism over the PPP government’s failure to get the flaws removed despite being in power in the centre for five years, the chief minister said that the previous government had ensured distribution of water according to the water accord. The Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal and Greater Thal Canal, which were being used as regular canals, were forcibly closed, he said. Besides, four resolutions were passed against the construction of Kalabagh dam compelling the authorities to drop the scheme that could have further cut Sindh’s share of water.

The chief minister also challenged those who alleged that the PPP government had allocated funds for the Kalabagh dam to produce evidence, explaining that not a single penny had been allocated in any of the annual budgets for the controversial dam.

Earlier in his speech, Dr Mandhro said Sindh had centuries-old history. According to a study conducted in 2005, the cultivation area of Sindh had reduced by 25 per cent for want of water supply, while cultivated areas in Punjab had increased by 21pc, he said. This was because Punjab had not been allowing Sindh to have its due share of water, he added.

Warning against the effects of water shortage, Syed Sardar Ahmad said the world was saying climate change was a threat bigger than terrorism.

Mr Khuhro said the Water Accord of 1991 was signed by Jam Sadiq Ali and Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah from Sindh, and Ghulam Haider Wyne and Shah Mehmood Qureshi from Punjab.

Giving an example of the violation of the water accord, Mr Khuhro said that there was a section in the agreement for the provision of water for Left-Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) but water had never been released.

Jam Khan Shoro, Dr Samar Ali Khan, Saeed Nizamani, Heer Soho, Syed Sardar Ali Shah, Kamran Akhtar, Mohammad Ali Malkani, Nusrat Sahar Abbasi, Deewan Chand Chawla, Rehana Leghari, Mumtaz Shamim and other lawmakers also expressed their views on the issue of water shortage.

The assembly session, which was called to order at 2.30pm, was finally adjourned at 8pm to meet again on Monday at 10am.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2017