HYDERABAD: Members and supporters of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA), Qaumi Awami Tehreek, Awami Tehreek and Jeay Sindh Mahaz staged rallies in Hyderabad, Naushahro Feroze, Nawabshah and Mirpurkhas districts on Wednesday as part of ongoing province-wide protest against federal government’s plan for construction of six ‘strategic’ canals o Indus River.

In Hyderabad, SCA organised a procession from Sindh University Old Campus to local press club where the chamber president Zainul Abideen Shah and others demanded the federal government shelve the canals project.

Shah said that no canal including Cholistan Canal was acceptable to growers and said he believed this canal was aimed at rendering Sindh completely barren.

He said that federal government should play its role in getting water disputes resolved through Council of Common Interests, and rejected Green Pakistan Initiative for corporate farming.

He said that with the beginning of kharif season, water in Mangla and Tarbela dams had already depleted and led to a drought-like situation, which was a bad omen for looming crisis. The federal government should shelve the canals project, he said.

SCA senior vice president Nabi Bux Sathio feared the prevailing water shortage might endanger cultivation of crops on 1.6 million to 1.7m acres in the province. SCA general secretary Zahid Bhurgari said that people of Sindh demanded that the canals project should be shelved immediately to end widespread unrest.

QAT rally in Tandojam

Activists of QAT organised a rally in Tandojam to record protest against canals and corporate farming.

The party president Ayaz Latif Palijo, who led the rally, said that Sindh had been handed over to land mafia. Cholistan and other canals would deprive Sindh of its water permanently as Sindh’s survival was directly linked with Indus, he said.

AT protest in Padidan

In Padidan, Naush­ahro Feroze district, AT activists staged a big procession against canals project, corporate farming and amendments to the Irsa act.

AT central president Advocate Vasand Thari, senior vice president Noor Ahmed Katiar and Sindhyani Tehreek’s leaders led the march from Nusrat Canal to Jalal Chowk where the participants staged a sit-in outside local press club.

The leaders said in the speeches before the protesters that the canals were more dangerous than even Kalabagh Dam.

JSM holds procession

In Nawabshah, activists of Jeay Sindh Mahaz took out a procession from Sakrand road to local press club to register protest construction of canals.

The protesters warned of blocking roads if the canals project was not cancelled. Chief Justice of Pakistan and United Nations should take notice of the injustice, they said.

Protests in Mirpurkhas

In Mirpurkhas, growers, doctors and students staged rallies and took out processions in different parts of the district to record protest against the canals.

Members of Abadgar Welfare Association took out a procession in Jhuddo town and blocked main Jhuddo-Mithi road.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2025