LAHORE, June 20: Irrigation Minister Amer Sultan Cheema clarified in the Punjab Assembly here on Friday that he had not accused the Sindh Assembly of rejecting the Greater Thal Canal project under the influence of a Hindu lobby.

The minister made the clarification when Leader of the Opposition Qasim Zia raised the issue at the start of session saying that the minister’s statement at a press conference on Thursday was dangerous and could “repeat history” by hurting people in Sindh.

He said the Sindh Assembly had rejected the plan through a consensus resolution, but the minister condemned it despite the fact that the Sindh government was being run by the PML-Q.

Mr Zia said the minister should avoid issuing such statements as these were like interfering in the internal affairs of a smaller province.

He said the opposition was expressing solidarity with the people of Sindh, and the minister should clarify his position and the impression that “we want to usurp their rights”.

The minister said the canal was being commissioned under the 1991 water accord and was agreed upon by the IRSA and all the provinces.

The issue was related to the entire country and not a single province.

He said his accusation was aimed at those indulging in negative and baseless propaganda against the canal rather than the Sindh Assembly. He said he had been misquoted by some newspapers.

The minister said what he had actually stated was that “we should be careful of people who had hindered the construction of Kalabagh Dam and were now sabotaging the Thal Canal project”.

Without mentioning the opposition, he said people were taking to roads without any reason and did not want to see the country prosper through projects like Thal Canal. They wanted to politicize the project, he said, adding that Punjab had always made sacrifices for smaller provinces and would continue to do so in future.

Mr Zia said the opposition would not allow any province to bulldoze the interests of any other province for the sake of national solidarity, and it had never opposed the Kalabagh Dam. “We want all projects to be commissioned after a consensus,” he said.

He said the agreement about the canal was illegal, as it had been signed under the “illegal government of Gen Pervez Musharraf”. The opposition was protesting, but why the government was not ready to have a dialogue with it, he said.

Saeed Akbar Nivani said the canal would be fed only in the flood season and would not consume any province’s water. This was a good project and should not be objected to, he said.

Rana Sanaullah Khan said the minister had made a wrong statement and wrongfully accused the people of Sindh of acting on the advice of a Hindu lobby. Through such statements, he was blocking the Thal Canal project, he said.

The minister was finally rescued by Speaker Afzal Sahi who changed the topic.

The opposition agreed to resume talks with the government in the chamber of speaker on Saturday morning.