SUKKUR: Sindh Minister for Energy, Planning and Development Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said that the Pakistan Peoples Party will never compromise on six canals project and will always safeguard rights of the province, especially its share in water.

While they were protesting against the project, the Planning and Development Department of Punjab too had raised objections to the canals, he said.

The minister was talking to media persons after opening the first OGDCL-National Case Writing Competition at IBA University Sukkur on Monday.

Referring to ongoing protest by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, he said that people were being misled through social media. Political parties normally organised demonstrations to record their protests and since the PTI had already registered its protest, its workers should now return home, he advised.

He said that if they had intention to weaken the country, it was unacceptable. PPP supports peaceful protests, but the party’s track record was worse, he said.

Mr Shah said that PPP had supported Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz for the sake of supremacy of the parliament. If they had not supported it, the situation might have led to reelections, hence PPP had to swallow the bitter pill, he said.

He announced that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari would visit the IBA University soon.

Sukkur IBA University’s vice chancellor Prof Dr Asif Ahmed Shaikh said that the university was hosting the competition for the first time in Pakistan.

The primary objective of this competition was to provide a platform to professionals, teachers and students to showcase their creative skills and research and help promote collaboration between academia and industry, he said.

He announced plans to enroll 20 of the poorest students from rural Sindh in grades five and six at the Public School Sukkur, which managed by Sukkur IBA University, in near future.

OGDCL Regional Director Qamar Zaman said that the company focused on education and health sectors. Hence, it was collaborating with the university on various projects in Sukkur, he added.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024