HYDERABAD, Nov 18: Sindh Chamber of Agriculture president Syed Qamaruzzaman Shah has said there is no mention of the Thal canal in the original 1991 Water Accord.

He said Jam Sadiq Ali, the then chief minister of Sindh, was forced to sign the accord.

He was speaking as chief guest at an international conference on “The Water Problem of Sindh and Future of Pakistan” held in Washington the other day.

The conference was held under the auspices of the World Sindhi Institute and its proceedings were sent to Dawn by a source in the institute.

Shah said the people of Sindh had historical right over the waters of the River Indus.

He regretted Sindh had been facing the problem of water shortage for a long time but the rulers were giving no importance to the issue.

He urged international organizations to take notice of the predicament of the Sindhi people.

The SCA president also distributed copies of the original accord among the participants of the conference.

He alleged the draft of the accord was prepared in advance and Jam Sadiq Ali was summoned to the Chamba House, Lahore, and forced to sign the accord.

He, however, claimed no officer concerned of the province had signed the original document of the accord.

Referring to the Chashma-Jehlum Link Canal, he said before its construction, Punjab had given an assurance that water would be released in this canal only when excess water was available but, he deplored, this assurance had never been complied with.

He told the conference water was not available even for the livestock at some places.

He said due to the acute shortage of water, hunger, unemployment, migration and epidemic had become rampant.

He referred to Leishmaniasis which had spread in Kohistan area of the Dadu district.

Shah said former Wapda chairman Shamsul Mulk had publicly admitted that there was not enough water in the Indus River to justify the construction of the Kalabagh dam and other canals.

He demanded an end to the artificial shortage of water in Sindh.

He alleged Punjab had been robbing Sindh of its water share for the last one hundred years. He warned the people of Sindh would not tolerate further excesses.