KARACHI: The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and other opposition parties on Tuesday rejected the proposed amendments to the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) Act, and demanded resignation of President Asif Zardari alleging that his party was promoting the idea.

At a press conference, they stated that the proposed amendments to the Irsa Act were completely unconstitutional and illegal. It’s a deep conspiracy to once again turn the province barren, they said, and declared that they would not allow these amendments to be implemented under any circumstances.

They also announced protest demonstrations to be organised across the province on Sept 19 against the “anti-Sindh decisions being made in the Aiwan-i-Sadr”, and urged the masses to fully participate in them.

The joint press conference was addressed by GDA’s Sindh Secretary General Dr Safdar Abbasi, Sardar Abdul Rahim, Liaquat Ali Jatoi, Syed Zain Shah, Masroor Jatoi, Riaz Chandio and other leaders. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Ali Palh Advocate and Rizwan Khanzada, Jamaat-i-Islami’s Mohammad Hussain Mehnati were also among the others present at the press conference.

Demands resignation of President Zardari

Dr Safdar Abbasi stated that the proposed amendments would destroy the Indus River system, and argued that “water distribution is not done at 114MAF (million acre-feet), but at 105 or 107MAF.

He elaborated the Irsa Act, Water Accord 1991 and water distribution formula, and reminded the federal authorities that there as national consensus on the Water Accord 1991 and Irsa operated under its framework.

Dr Abbasi said that in July, a meeting was held in the Aiwan-i-Sadr, where amendments to the Irsa Act were discussed and this led to a significant public backlash. “The current PPP government has always plundered Sindh’s resources,” he said. He asserted that Sindh being the lower riparian had greater right over Indus water. Alluding to the process of drafting of the amendments and later a discussion in the Aiwan-i-Sadr, he said President Zardari should immediately resign in the light of the resolution adopted in the Sindh Assembly.

Syed Zain Shah said that creating new command areas would destroy the water system, warning that if water was not released into the sea, cities like Karachi, Hyderabad and Tando Mohammad Khan would be eroded by the sea. He also called for President Zardari’s resignation, and said that if he did not step down, then Sindh Assembly [members] should resign.

Former Sindh chief minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi stressed that the province must receive its due share in Indus water. He regretted that the president did not take stakeholders into confidence before proposing the amendments.

GDA’s Information Secretary and Muslim League-Functional General Secretary Sardar Abdul Rahim urged Karachi’s men and women, especially youth, to participate fully in the Sept 19 protests, calling it “a matter of survival”.

“Water is a matter of life and death for Sindh, he said.

He said that at this meeting, significant collective decisions were taken by various political, religious, and nationalist parties of Sindh.

Jamaat-i-Islami leader Mohammad Hussain Mehnati remarked that water distribution among provinces was a subject of ongoing discussion. Powers of assemblies couldn’t be usurped by president, he contended, and criticised president’s “unconstitutional action” of calling a meeting and setting a dangerous precedent that would cause division between provinces. He also called for the president’s resignation.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2024