HYDERABAD, March 11: The Sindhu Agricultural Forum has demanded that the parliamentary committee on water should stop its activities till the technical committee headed by A. G. N. Abbasi finalizes its recommendations on the issue.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, forum secretary-general Nazeer Ahmad Memon said that on the one hand the technical committee had not been able to initiate its deliberations and on the other, the parliamentary committee was conducting its activities with full speed and issuing what he said irresponsible statements on construction of dams.

He said the technical committee had been virtually rendered irrelevant. He said statements of political and controversial nature being frequently issued by parliamentary committee head Senator Nisar Memon would prejudice deliberations of the technical committee.

The forum official accused Senator Memon of damaging the cause of finding a consensus on the water issue among the provinces. He said the parliamentary committee should start its deliberations after the technical committee had completed its job and submitted its opinion on all water-related issues.

He said the core issue of enough water availability for construction of new reservoirs could only be resolved in the light of recommendations of the technical committee.

The official said if the government was serious in resolving the issue on the basis of merit, it should extend all facilities to the technical committee so that it could complete its task without delay.