MIRPURKHAS, Dec 20: PPP provincial president Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that the Kalabagh dam project is a matter of life and death for the people of Sindh. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday at Jilani House, the PPP leader said that all political parties of Sindh, including the MQM, were openly opposing Kalabagh dam and Greater Thal canal projects.

He said that the anti-Kalabagh dam rally on Thursday in Karachi would be an historic event as people from all over Sindh would participate in it.

Mr Shah said that anti-Kalabagh dam and anti-Greater Thal canal action committee had organized the protest rally at Mazar-i-Quaid on Dec 22.

The PPP leader said that the dam would further damage the already ruined economy of Sindh as the sea erosion had destroyed about two million acres of agriculture lands.

He said that though three provincial assemblies had passed resolutions against the dam, the rulers were insisting to construct it.

Replying to a question, he said that President Gen Pervez Musharraf should first take his ‘own people’ into confidence instead of satisfying the people of Sindh by visiting them for the dam issue.

He said that Sindh was already getting less water according to the share under 1991 water accord and the share was being decreased by authorities every year. As a result in some areas water was not available even for the last rites of the dead.

He said that the Sindh and Punjab chapters of the PPP were not divided over the Kalabagh dam issue.

The PPP leader praised MQM’ decision for opposing the project.