SUKKUR: Protests against controversial canals on Indus River continued in several Sindh towns alongside JI’s strike on Saturday with lawyers’ sit-in at Babarloi, Khairpur district, in full swing on the ninth consecutive day.

Activists of Awami Tehreek and Sindhiyani Tehreek, who were profusely participating in the lawyers’ protest staged a rally at the sit-in venue against canals and corporate farming, demanding justice for indigenous farmers and river water.

The party’s central president Advocate Vasand Thari demanded immediate cancellation of all land-leasing agreements signed under the controversial corporate farming projects.

He declared that these agreements were at the root of the construction of new canals and the illegal transfer of farmland.

He criticised the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), accusing it of attempting to mislead public through hollow celebrations. Thari rejected state-led programs like the Green Pakistan Initiative and bodies like the SIFC, labeling them anti-people and detrimental to Pakistan’s agricultural and democratic future.

Lawyers’ protest in Kandhkot continues

The Lawyers’ Alliance and the All Parties Movement continued their sit-in at Goala More (turning) on the Indus Highway in Kandhkot on the sixth consecutive day against the controversial canals.

Sindh United Party president Syed Zain Shah also joined the sit-in after reaching there in a convoy and said the sit-in had brought to a halt vehicular movement to Punjab. They would not accept canals as millions of people of Sindh had rejected the controversial water projects, he said.

In Larkana, SUP demonstrated outside local press club and staged a march against the canals project, calling for cancellation of the project.

PTI marches against canals

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf held a rally, which started from Mehar town and reached Dadu after passing through Khairpur Nathan Shah town, against the controversial canals.

PTI Sindh president Haleem Adil Sheikh, who led the rally, accused the PPP of betraying the nation and people of Sindh over the canals.

He criticised the prime minister and Mr Bhutto-­Zardari and said both had tried to deceive public by engaging in political theatrics.

The rally marched on roads in K.N. Shah and then reached Dadu where Sheikh said that if the construction of canals was not stopped, Indus would become dry as Sindh was already receiving its share of water.

He warned that it would aggravate water crisis in Sindh and Karachi will not receive a single drop of water.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2025