KARACHI, March 19: Seeing that the controversial Greater Thal Canal will further deprive Sindh of irrigation water, the coordination committee of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement has urged the government to stop implementation of the project.

Speaking at a press conference at Karachi Press Club on Tuesday, the deputy conveners of the coordination committee, Aftab Shaikh, and Nasreen Jalil, maintained that water is an issue of life and death for the people of Sindh and their party would use all available constitutional and legal ways of protest against the Thal Canal project.

“We condemn all such projects and urge the government not to insist on undertaking the project, otherwise there are possibilities that the prevailing atmosphere of cordiality and love among the provinces, specially between Punjab and Sindh, could be jeopardized,” said Aftab Shaikh.

He opposed the government’s reported decision to approach the Supreme Court for interpretation of clause 14-B of the 1991 Water Accord. Before seeking an explanation by the apex court, he said, the government should ensure that the project is discussed at the forum of Irsa first, and if any of the provinces found any objection or remained unsatisfied with the outcome, then it could move the court of law as well.

He was of the view that the greater Thal Canal was being effected in the name of flood canal, which was another fraud with the people of Sindh. Like other flood canal projects, implemented in the past, the Thal Canal would also cast adverse effects on the life of the people of Sindh, he said, apprehending that Punjab would not allow sufficient flow of water to Sindh where more lands would become desert.

Aftab Shaikh said the Water Accord of 1991 did not provide room for construction of Greater Thal canal. He rejected Punjab’s claim that it had got all legal rights over Indus water and urged it not to usurp the rights of Sindh.

Nasreen Jalil said the Muttahida had been criticizing the Thal Canal project in the past as well and once again it was rejecting the project. The government should take into confidence all the provinces, specially the affected one, and evolve a consensus prior to any decision on the issue, she added.