HYDERABAD: Law­yers at Babarloi and activists of nationalist and religious parties, civil society, professional organisations, trade unions, teachers associations and students groups continued protests against controversial canals on the Indus River across the province on Friday where leaders dismissed Council of Common Interests as biased and incapable of doing justice to the sensitive issue.

At a at a press briefing at his Jamshoro residence, Sindh United Party (SUP) president Zain Shah, who is also conveyer of Save Indus River Movement, rejected the joint press conference of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and termed it a joke.

He said the new canals project should simply be shelved as the parliament, president, prime minister, CCI and joint parliament session had lost credibility due to fake elections. Eight members of CCI belonged to ruling PML-N, he said.

He also rejected press conference addressed by Sindh chief minister following PM-Bilawal joint presser. “We will not accept decision of CCI [on the canals],” he said, adding majority in CCI belonged to other provinces and Sindh had only one member.

He said that the approval of the canals project given by President Asif Zardari on July 8, 2024, should be withdrawn and a notification should be issued in this regard.

The Sindh government should also rescind the decision for the land given for corporate farming,” he said.

About recent disturbance in Khairpur where PPP’s convoy was pelted with stones by some unidentified persons, he said that PPP’s public meetings were just a drama staged to mislead people. “They are holding a public meeting to celebrate ‘victory’ which is a victory for deceiving people,” he said.

He said that struggle against canals and corporate farming would continue. He would be leading a march in Qambar-Shahdadkot from Larkana on Saturday and express solidarity with lawyers at their sit-in camp in Khairpur district today, he said.

Shah said that PPP members did not participate in debate in Senate when PTI filed a resolution. Finally, he said, a PML-N member pointed out quorum in the house.

He warned if these canals were built then everything would be lost because people then would turn to groundwater which would deplete quickly.

Sit-in at Babarloi enters 8th day

The eighth day sit-in at Babarloi saw a large number of activists of Awami Tehreek and Sindhyani Tehreek and their leaders joining the ranks of lawyers.

AT central president Advocate Vasand Thari, senior vice president Noor Ahmed Katiar, general secretary Advocate Sajid Hussain Mahesar, Sindhyani Tehreek leader Shamsad Bapar, Advocate Hina Jatoi, Sindhi Shagird Tehreek President Naveed Abbas Kalhoro and others declared at the gathering that the protest would continue until the government scrapped corporate farming, new canals and the Board of Investment Amendment Act, 2023.

They asserted that the people of Sindh had recognised the deceit of the PML-N and PPP leadership. Bilawal and Shehbaz, allies in the federal government, were conspiring to dig canals but Sindhis would never allow them to do so, they said.

They demanded the PPP shut down the CCI drama, which, like all federal institutions, was dominated by Punjab, with no equitable representation for smaller nations. Neither the CCI nor any other institution had the authority to decide the fate of the Indus, they said.

They urged the federal government to immediately issue notifications to cancel the canals and corporate farming projects, calling them anti-state conspiracies.

Activists of PPP-Shaheed Bhutto organised a rally and held a sit-in against canals in Jacobabad where the leaders said that Sindhi people only demanded cancellation of controversial canals, otherwise, the protests would continue across Sindh.

Protests in Larkana, Qambar, Naudero

In Larkana, protests continued in the city, Qambar and Naudero where processions were taken out and roads were blocked with sit-ins.

The sit-in in Naudero entered the fifth day where the protesters had pitched tents on Naudero-Sukkur road, blocking all traffic.

Hussaini Jamaat took out a procession, later joined by schoolchildren, which marched up to local press club and then joined the sit-in camp.

Traders, shopkeepers and labourers took to the streets in Qambar town to voice protest against canals. They converged outside local press club where the leaders praised the lawyers’ struggle and extended their support to them.

Members of Wonderful Yoga Club demonstrated outside Larkana Press Club and demanded the federal government wind up the canals project.

Emir of Sindh chapter of the Jamaat-i-Islami Kashif Saeed Shaikh rejected the PM’s announcement as an eyewash.

He said in a video statement that PPP and PML-N were in a nexus over the canals but people of Sindh would not accept their script. Lawyers’ protest had exposed double-faced policy of PPP, he said.

He said the federal government and Punjab had majority in the existing composition of CCI. Therefore, it was merely a farce to pacify the raging protests, he said.

AT dismisses CCI

In Daulatpur, Nawabshah district, AT central president Advocate Vasand Thari said at a press conference at local press club that Bhutto-Zardari was trying to befool Sindhi nation by taking the canal issue to CCI where PML-N had majority.

He said that PPP had been shedding crocodile tears on the canals and before that on digital census as well which it accepted afterwards. Despite knowing that the PML-N had majority in the CCI, Bhutto-Zardari chose to take the canal issue there instead of rejecting it directly, he said.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2025