HYDERABAD: Activists of various nationalist, political and religious parties, members of growers’ bodies and civil society staged rallies and sit-ins and took out processions in several Sindh towns as part of ongoing protest against construction of new canals on Indus River and corporate farming on Monday.

Workers of Sindh United Party (SUP), Sindh Abadgar Ittehad (SAI), Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM), Awami Tehreek (AT), Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB)’s and others took out a joint procession in Tando Mohammad Khan against the construction of new canals.

The protesters marched on the town’s roads before staging a sit-in on main Tando Mohammad Khan-Hyderabad road where the leaders made speeches.

SUP’s Khalil Jan Sirhindi, SAI’s Pir Ashfaq Jan, JSQM’s Syed Bashir Shah, JSM’s Punhal Jamali, AT’s Harchand Lal, QAT’s Vinod Meghwar, PTI’s Aftab Nizamani and PPP-SB’s Ghulam Qadir Mallah said that construction of the canals was tantamount to murder of 70 million Sindhis. Millions of acres of land would get destroyed if the canals were built, they said.

They said that PPP’s parliamentarians should resign from parliament in protest against the canals.

In Thatta, Jeay Sindh Mahaz-Riaz (JSM-R) organised a five-kilometre foot march from Makli to Thatta press club.

The JSM-R vice chairman Nawaz Shah Bhadai, who led the march, condemned what they described as the federal government’s forceful seizure of Sindh’s rightful share of Indus water.

“The unjust diversion of water from the Indus has already rendered Sindh’s coastal districts barren. Even drinking water has become scarce in Thatta, Sujawal, Badin and Tando Muhammad Khan districts,” they lamented.

They highlighted lack of flows downstream Kotri barrage which had led to unchecked sea intrusion, resulting in the submergence of millions of acres of fertile land. “If the new canals are constructed, Sindh will turn into a wasteland, triggering a major humanitarian catastrophe,” they warned.

The participants in the rally demanded immediate halt to the canal projects and vowed to continue their struggle till their demands were met.

The protest was widely participated by a diverse range of political, social, academic, religious and literary figures of the district.

In Tando Allahyar, former senator Rahila Magsi said at an Iftar dinner at her residence that the government should shelve the anti-Sindh projects otherwise Sindhis would block all highways and roads to Islamabad.

She demanded authorities take notice of the protest of Sindhi people and cancel all the anti-Sindh projects.

In Mirpurkhas, scores of pesticide dealers held a demonstration outside local press in protest against the canals and corporate forming. The protesters’ leaders warned the government to listen to Sindh masses, who were joining the protest campaign throughout the province in large numbers.

In Khipro, Sanghar district, activists of AT and Sindhyani Tehreek took out a procession, from Khipro Canal to Shaheed Sooriah Badshah Chowk.

The protesters warned that the strategic canal project had already expanded from six to nine canals, threatening Sindh’s environment and resources.

They termed PPP’s protest planned for March 25 as a conspiracy to sabotage Sindh’s peaceful resistance and make propaganda in favour of corporate farming.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2025