LARKANA: A large group of singers, writers, intellectuals and art directors took out a procession from Arts Council of Pakistan here on Sunday to record protest against federal government’s plan for construction of six ‘strategic’ canals on Indus River.

Famous singer Ghulam Shabbir Samo, chairman of music section of the Arts Council of Pakistan, Larkana; drama director and playwright, Ms Suhni Naz; Sajjan Mairy, Hadi Bugti, Fida Malano and others led the procession, which marched on main roads of the city before converging on Larkana Press Club.

They sang to the stirring notes of Yaktaro (single-stringed instrument) which played once famous Sindhri tay sirr ker na deendo as they registered their rejection of the canals projects.

Talking to media persons, they complained that despite being the highest revenue generating province, Sindh had been pushed to the dock, its natural resources had been captured and now it was being robbed of its water share in the Indus River, which was its jugular vein, by constructing canals on the river and diverting its water.

“Sindhu is our lifeline,” they said and added the issue did not concern only politicians, lawyers, nationalists or opposition parties but it was in fact linked to all segments of society.

They said that it was not difficult to understand that Sindh had been experiencing acute shortage of irrigation water since long and “despite this anti-Sindh decisions are being thrust on us. Imposition of canals project will be tantamount to threatening the very survival of Sindh,” they said.

They said that they criticised Punjab’s rigid attitude with regard to the canals project and said it would ruin Sindh’s fertile land for irrigating Punjab’s deserts. It would be highly unwise to go ahead with the plan as it would aggravate problems, hence the government was urged to shelve the plan immediately, they said.

AT rally against canals

Activists of Awami Tehreek staged a rally in Malir on Sunday to protest against construction of six new canals on Indus River and corporate farming.

The protesters demanded closure of flood canals Chashma-Jhelum and Taunsa-Panjand link canals and slammed Indus River System Authority (Irsa) for denying Sindh its share of water while granting water availability certificate to Cholistan Canal project.

They demanded the establishment of an international tribunal to resolve longstanding water dispute between Sindh and Punjab.

The party leaders, central senior vice president Noor Ahmed Katiar, Malir district president Pirha Soomro, Advocate Abdullah Bapar condemned the Pakistan Peoples Party for its role in supporting the construction of the Cholistan Canal.

Mariam Nawaz and the Chief of Army Chief had already inaugurated this canal, yet the Sindh chief minister was still in denial of the canal’s inception while trying to suppress Sindh’s rightful demands, they said.

The protestors criticised the PPP government for supporting controversial SIFC (Special Investment Facilitation Council), which they was a modern version of the “One Unit” policy.

The leaders accused the PPP of collaborating with the federal government and betraying the trust of the people of Sindh by ignoring their rights.

The protesters addressed large-scale land grabs in Malir and criticised the role of land developers like Malik Riaz and DHA in acquiring Karachi’s land.

They demanded reversal of the decision to lay off 1,372 workers in the Steel Mills, calling it economic massacre of the working class.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2025