SUKKUR: Several thousand people, mainly lawyers, travelled to Babarloi town of Khairpur district from across Sindh in response to Karachi Bar Association’s call for an indefinite sit-in against federal government’s controversial canals project.

The call was backed by the Sindh High Court Bar Association.

The sit-in was started at Babarloi Bypass on Friday.

Apart from lawyers, those who already arrived at the venue or were on the way on Friday evening included leaders, workers and supporters of various Sindhi nationalist groups and civil society organisations.

There were reports of several roads leading to Khairpur and the link roads along the route of the convoys having been blocked by police. However, affected people adopted alternative routes to reach Babarloi.

Lawyers from across Sindh reach Babarloi bypass to attend sit-in, find several roads blocked by police; civil society activists, Sindhi nationalist groups also join the protest

Upon reaching the venue, KBA President Aamir Nawaz Warraich led a big demonstration at the nearby section of the National Highway.

Office-bearers and many members of different bar associations of Sukkur and other upper and lower Sindh districts took part in the demonstration after welcoming the arriving participants.

Addressing the protesters and local journalists, KBA chief Amir Warraich said that the sit-in would continue for an indefinite period. He demanded immediate shelving of the plan to draw six new canals from the Indus because, he said, it was bound to render Sindh’s lands barren.

“There can be no compromise on Sindh’s share in the Indus River water,” he declared, and warned that if this demand was not met, the legal fraternity would boycott court proceedings and also block rail traffic across Sindh to lead the ongoing struggle into the next phase.

He also warned that the scope of the struggle could be extended to the entire country.

He said that the fallout of the canal project’s execution was a matter of Sindh’s survival.

Leaders of various political, social, religious and nationalist entities also addressed the protesters.

Awami Tehreek President Advocate Wasand Thari

strongly condemned the plan calling it a serious act of water theft on the part of the federation.

He said that through these canals, Sindh’s water would be taken away without its mandatory approval and in violation of the 1991 Water Accord. “This is not just all about water, rather, it’s about very survival of Sindh’s people, agriculture sector and its environment,” he said.

He also condemned the federal authorities for taking initiatives to dole out Sindh’s fertile lands to local and foreign investors in the name of ‘corporate farming’. Such initiatives were aimed at dispossessing local communities from their own lands and were bund to damage the rural economy, he said.

“We reject these initiatives … these lands belong to the people of Sindh, not to profit-seeking corporate firms,” he said.

Advocate Thari also rejected the recent amendment to the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) Act, saying that they “legalised injustice” by allowing undue water share for the largest province and denying the smaller ones their due share.

“We will not allow any canal or dam to be built on our Indus River. The Indus is our lifeline and we will protect it at all costs,” he said.

Leaders of Awami Tehreek’s women wing, Sindhiyani Tehreek, Sindhi Shagird Tehreek and other civil society organisations also took part in the protest. They included Noor Ahmed Katyar, Sajid Hussain Mahesar, Advocate Sarwan Jatoi, Naveed Abbas Kalhoro, Ayaz Kalhoro, Shamshad, Rubina Bhatti, Hina Jatoi, Mahnoor Baloch, Sajjad Baloch, Ayaz Sualeh Palijo, Zulfiqar Mirani, Aftab Ahmed Phulpoto, Riaz Malik, Faisal Malik, Saroch Sindhi, Saleem Soomro, Umar Ansari and Sujawal Soomro.

During the course of the demonstration, movement of vehicles on both tracks of the National Highway remained suspended, and long queues of vehicles were stuck at Rohri and Ali Wahan as well as other roads leading to Khairpur.

At Dera Morr (turning) in Kashmore, a large number of lawyers held a sit-in to block the highway in protest against the controversial canals project.

Kandhkot-Kashmore District Bar President Abdul Ghani Bijarani, Tehsil Bar President Abdul Rauf Khoso, Abdul Fahim Thahim, Nisar Soomro, Badil Sheikh, M. Hamza Sheikh and others led the sit-in.

People from a cross section of society also attended the protest.

Meanwhile, a boycott of court proceedings was observed on a call given by the District Bar Council, which said it would continue till a further course of action was announced.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2025