LARKANA: Speakers at a big gathering on Tuesday condemned the six-canal project which they termed against the interest of Sindh, and highlighted the sorry state of affairs as result of shortage of irrigation water in the province.

Former Grand Democratic Alliance MPA Moazzim Abbasi convened the gathering at Palm Lake Housing Society to reaffirm participants’ full support to the ‘Save River Indus’ campaign launched by the Sindh United Party (SUP).

Those who attended the event included SUP General Secretary Jagdesh Ahuja and a host of local leaders of different political, religious parties, Sindh Abadgar Board and trade bodies, and social activists from Larkana and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts.

Mr Abbasi extensively elaborated on ifs and buts, and the ins and outs of the construction of six canals to be fed through the Indus. He said that due to the acute shortage of irrigation water, our fertile land had turned infertile and by releasing minimum water downstream Kotri, at least two talukas in Badin and Sujawal had been eroded by the sea.

He said it was quite unfortunate that the Indus Delta was being devastated and sea erosion was a potential threat to the mangrove forests amidst the paucity of water downstream. Calling the River Indus the jugular vein of the national economy, he said that with the construction of six controversial canals, vast belts of agriculture land would be ruined. “It would have socio-economic impact on Sindh and its population.”

He urged all the participants to profusely participate in the Feb 13 protest called by the SUP in Larkana. Touching the changed pattern of water arrival, he said previously water in canals and barrages used to reach by May and now it hardly arrived in June and July. As result farmers had to rely on sowing hybrid seeds with uncertain yield and output, which finally impacted the produce, he added.

Sardar Zaffar Ali Sangi, a social activist, talked in detail about the natural resources with particular reference to natural gas and coal. He said Sindh contributed more but in turn was ignored in gas, electricity and other sectors, referring to the Water Act, which according to him ensures the first right of riparian settlements on water. The tail-enders were suffering the most, he said.

He said that depriving the tail-end farmers of their just share of water would tantamount to cutting their life line. People would rise and voice for justice if their legitimate rights were usurped or they robbed of water, he said. Ifran Jatoi, president the Sindh Abadgar Board, Larkana district, minutely touched the facts and figures of water in the Indus River System.

Advocate Nadir Khoso, district emir of the Jamaat-i-Islami Larkana, Babu Serwar Siyal of the PML-Q, Muhammed Ali Hakro of the PTI Qambar-Shahdadkot, Advocate Salma Mushtaq Bhutto, SUP Larkana district president Sadarudin Bhatti, Alama Riaz Hussain Al-Hussaini, Muzaffar Brohi, Ghulam Rasool Umrani of the PPP (Shaheed Bhutto) and other speakers expressed their opinion and opposed the construction of the six canals. In their speeches, they criticised the PPP for what they termed its double-faced policy regarding the issue.

They wondered why the PPP central leadership had ignited the debate by allowing the construction of the canals when their leaders in Sindh were opposing the plan. That was hypocrisy, they said.

The agriculture being the backbone of the country was already under immense pressure, and if it remained ignored, an issue of food security would crop up, they said. “Now is the time to stand up against the plan and reject it with one voice,” they said.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2025