HYDERABAD, April 16: The Anti-Greater Thal Canal and Kalabagh Dam Action Committee has condemned the statements by the people in authority for the construction of new dams and reiterated that no dam will be accepted on River Indus.
A meeting of the committee was held here at the residence of Syed Ali Nawaz Shah MPA on Monday which considered statements of the government side about the construction of new dams and warned that no dam will be accepted on River Indus.
The convener of the committee and PPP leader, Syed Qaim Ali shah MPA, presided over the meeting.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that the technical experts of the committee had informed the meeting that the government was now trying to construct small dams on the tributaries of River Indus.
The meeting condemned such proposals and said that the construction of any dam on River Indus or its tributaries would not be tolerated.
The Awami Tehrik chief, Rasool Bux Palijo, STP chairman Dr Qadir Magsi, deputy opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly, Makhdoom Jamiluzzaman, PML leaders Makhdoom Shahnawaz and Afzal Gujjar, Jamat-i-Islami leader Maulana Abdul Waheed Qureshi and Sindh water committee members Abrar Qazi and Nazeer Memon were also present on the occasion.
Qaim Ali Shah said that the scheduled rally at Mirpurkhas on April 19, had been postponed by the committee due to unavoidable circumstances. He, however, said that the proposed protest sit-in would be held at Kamo Shaheed on May 12, as already announced. He said people from Punjab and other provinces would also participate in the sit-in.
Mr Shah said that due to non-release of water downstream Kotri, the sea had swallowed up to two million acres of rich agriculture land and the quality of underground water had also deteriorated.
He argued that due to global warming, the glaciers were also melting fast and the coastal areas were in grave danger.
He said the books written about the demerits of dams would also be got published and all out efforts would be made to convince the people of Punjab against the demerits of the dam by holding seminars in Lahore and Islamabad.
He said the political situation had radically changed in Pakistan due to the filing of presidential reference against CJ Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and added that all the political parties were united in protest against the attack on judiciary.
He said that all the affiliated parties of the committee would stage demonstrations on April 18, the day of the hearing of the reference, and that is why the scheduled rally in Mirpurkhas has been postponed.
Answering a question about the absence of PPP workers on the visit of the Chief Justice of Pakistan to Hyderabad on April 15, he said that the party leaders and workers had gone to attend the funeral rites of former Sindh chief minister.
About MQM's joining the committee, he said that MQM was opposing the construction of dams and supporting provincial autonomy but had failed to take any practical steps in this regard.
Rasool Bux Palijo, however, was more blunt and said that how could we associate with such people who had banned the employment of Sindhi people in the private sector organizations in Karachi and were working against Sindhis.