HYDERABAD/BADIN: Awa­mi Tehr­eek resolved on Sunday to continue ongoing movement against construction of six new canals on Indus River and corporate farming with more protests and rallies planned across the province.

The party’s central committee, which met here with AT central president, Vasand Thari, in the chair, said that people of Sindh would not allow construction of canals on the Indus River and would not let corporate farming companies to acquire millions of acres of land in the province.

The meeting decided that the movement against the projects would continue and the party would hold another protest in Jhimpir on March 3. It finalised plans for a public gathering in Jungshahi on June 21 to observe the 7th death anniversary of Rasool Bux Palijo.

The committee condemned closure of Islamabad and Multan offices of social organisation, PATTAN, by the federal government. The PATTAN had exposed election irregularities through Form 47, which led to its targeting and suppression, it said.

Mr Thari criticised the government and said President Asif Zardari had approved six new canals, endorsed amendments to Irsa Act and gave a green light to corporate farming.

He said that former president Arif Alvi had signed the Investment Board Amendment Bill 2023, paving the way for handing over 1.3 million acres of Sindh’s land to foreign corporations.

He accused PPP, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and 12 other parties of PDM of complicity in the anti-Sindh decisions. The Sindh government deliberately allowed lawlessness to spread and let robberies, kidnappings and killings to become routine, he said.

He said that no citizen was safe and police had become personal servants of MNAs, MPAs, feudal lords and tribal chieftains.

He said that Priya Kumari and dozens of other individuals were being held hostage by dacoits yet police refused to act. The riverine areas of Sindh had been turned into a marketplace for NATO arms and police, tribal leaders and feudal lords were part of the highly lucrative illegal trade. The government failed to protect its people hence it had no constitutional or legal right to govern, he said.

‘PPP won’t allow Centre to go ahead with canals project’

Pakistan Peoples Party Sindh’s president, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, reiterated on Sunday that his party rejected the federal government’s plans for the construction of six new canals on Indus River and would never allow it to go ahead with the projects.

He told local media persons during inauguration of a roundabout named ‘Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Chowk’ in memory of the slain party chairperson in Badin that it was PPP which had rejected the highly controversial Kalabagh Dam project and struck the last nail in its coffin.

He said that Badin district always remained a stronghold of PPP where several roads had been constructed and Thar Coal road had been improved. Sindh’s funds had been withheld during previous caretaker government which prevented many projects from being completed, he said.

He said that Badin district always remained a stronghold of PPP. Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Chowk should have been built earlier but it had now been completed in a befitting manner, he said.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2025