HYDERABAD: The Awami Tehreek (AT) has strongly opposed a federal government’s decision to build new water reservoirs, calling the move an anti-Sindh scheme designed to raise more dams over the Indus River.

In a joint statement, AT president advocate Vasand Thari, vice president Sattar Rind, deputy general secretary advocate Raheel Bhutto, Pirah Soomro and advocate Ayaz Kaloi said the plan to build the new water reservoirs as well as six canals was a conspiracy to deprive Sindh of its rightful water share and render the province barren.

They accused the Punjab rulers of maintaining a rigid and oppressive stance towards Sindh, reminiscent of the treatment once meted out to Bengal. The leaders pointed out that the Indus River was already on the brink of collapse, with no water being released downstream Kotri Barrage, leading to the destruction of the Indus Delta. While the people of Sindh suffered from severe water shortages, the federal government continued to pursue dam construction, they said.

The AT rejected the Dam Fund Committee formed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and demanded an immediate halt to all new water reservoir projects.

The statement also criticised the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for its alleged complicity in these plans, accusing Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah of betraying the Sindhi nation by silently endorsing the federal government’s initiatives.

Advocate Vasand Thari stated that by remaining silent on that critical issue, Murad Ali Shah had lost the moral right to hold the office of the chief minister and he should immediately resign.

The AT leaders also condemned the corporate farming projects being introduced under what they said the guise of water management, asserting that those initiatives served only to benefit large landowners and corporate interests at the expense of Sindh’s people, lands and resources.

The statement concluded with a firm pledge that the people of Sindh would continue their peaceful, democratic and political struggle against the corporate farming projects and any new water reservoir schemes imposed on the Indus River.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2025