MULTAN, May 25: The convener of the Seraikistan Unit of Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (Ponm), Hameed Asghar Shaheen, has urged the government to stop the implementation of its Vision-2025 programme with regard to enhancement of water resources in the country.

He said the government should first forge a consensus in this regard among all the stakeholders including people of the Seraiki belt. “Otherwise, the programme has all the ingredients to create irresolvable rifts among the federating units of the country,” he added.

Talking to Dawn on Sunday, Mr Shaheen said the programme was bound to bring a major demographic change in the Seraiki belt in the face of an influx of settlers from other parts of the country especially the central Punjab.

Citing an example, he said the Thal Canal which passed through the Seraiki districts of Khushab, Bakhar and Layyah had brought with it thousands of settlers who colonized small towns of Serai Krishan, Fatehpur, Chowk Azam and Chowk Munda. He said the settlers had outnumbered the local population in and around these small towns and had consequently won political power as well.

He said that at the time of constructing the Thal Canal, the government had promised to introduce industry in the area and create job opportunities for the local population, but that promise, too, was never fulfilled by the policy-makers.

He said the government had now started working on the Greater Thal Canal project under its Vision-2025 programme, which was expected to irrigate 1.5m acres, out of which about 800,000 acres belonged to the government. Mr Shaheen alleged that the government was allotting the land to military officers, judges, members of the bureaucracy and their kith and kin at throwaway prices, and the phenomenon would bring about a drastic demographic change in the districts of Mianwali, Bakhar, Layyah, Khushab, Jhang and Muzaffargarh. “This is a conspiracy to make the Seraiki people Red Indians on their soil,” he remarked.

Criticizing other projects under the programme, the Ponm leader said it was being claimed that some 160,000 acres would be irrigated. But, at the same time as much as 40,000 acres of cultivated land would become barren in the Seraiki belt of Punjab. He said according to the project study for the Chashma Right Bank Canal, as many as 390,000 settlers would come to the area covered by it.

Similarly, he continued, the Katchi Canal would pass 350km through Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts, where residents would not get even a drop of its water. Mr Shaheen expressed fear that the growing resentment against the Katchi Canal project in Dera and Rajanpur could assume the form of a movement. He demanded at least 3,000 cusecs of water from the canal for the people of the area. He said it was ironic that the canal would mainly pass through Punjab but would be owned by Balochistan.

Mr Shaheen said that many other people, especially those from Sindh, had their own reservations against the Vision-2025 programme. He said the government should behave wisely and remove the apprehensions of all stakeholders instead of going ahead with the programme unilaterally.