LARKANA: Lawyers belonging to the high court and district bar associations of Larkana on Wednesday held a rally outside the local press club to raise their voice against proposed construction of Kalabagh and other dams on River Indus.

They also strongly oppo­sed Prime Minister Imran Khan’s suggestion regarding issuance of computerised national identity cards to certain non-Pakistanis.

The rally was led by High Court Bar Association, Larkana, president Safdar Ali Bhutto and district bar association general secretary Akbar Ali Dahar along with senior advocates Ali Nawaz Ghanghro, Ghulam Dastagir Shahani, Asif Abdul Razzak Soomro and Sajid Mahisar.

The protesting lawyers observed a boycott of court proceedings and join in the rally carrying banners and placards. They emerged from the district bar office and proceeded up to the local press club, where they held a demonstration and raised slogans.

The bars’ leaders, speaking to them, said that Sindh was already getting lesser water than its due share. Persistent denial of the release of a mandatory amount of water downstream Kotri had drastically affected the Indus delta while millions of acres of fertile lands in Thatta and Badin had been eroded by sea, they observed.

“It looks strange that construction of dams without seeking technical experts’ opinion is being actively considered. It’s quite uncalled for to build Kalabagh dam, which has been rejected by three provincial assemblies,” the speakers said.

The lawyers also spoke against proposed issuance of CNICs to Bengalis and other immigrants and cited Supreme Court’s 2014 verdict in Karachi violence case. They said the apex court had noted that outsiders’ settlement in Karachi was a cause of shattered peace in the metropolis.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2018