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Express Tribune
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Protests against new canals intensify
A severe scarcity of water at Hussainabad exposes the River Indus dry bed, revealing a haunting landscape. The mighty river has been reduced to a shadow of its former glory due to shortage in release of water downstream from upper riparian barrges. PHOTO: EXPRESS The Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM), amid protests interminably continue across Sindh against the proposed construction of six new canals on the Indus River, blocked the Indus and National highways at three different locations on Friday. The JSM Chairman Riaz Ali Chandio, who led a protest rally on the National Highway in Moro, Naushehro Feroze district, said they carefully chose April 4 for their protest to neutralise the propaganda being spread by Pakistan Peoples Party. "Unless the government issues the notification of cancelling all these controversial projects, the protests would continue," he warned. Chandio reiterated that the Green Pakistan Initiative, new canals and the corporate farming are all meant to rob Sindh of its water and land. "It is an economic murder of the entire population of Sindh which is dependent on agriculture." He claimed, the PPP is organising cosmetic protests in the province although it has given its consent for the construction of new canals. Dr Niaz Kalani of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) deplored that the people who participate in peaceful protests are being subjected to enforced disappearance besides being nominated in flimsy FIRs. However, he asserted, the protests are becoming stronger with each passing day despite all the pressure tactics being employed by the government. Meanwhile, Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party Chairman Dr Qadir Magsi announced that his party would start sit-in protests on the highways in the province from April 10. He said every day a different location of the highways will be selected for the sit-in. "The ongoing protests against the canals and the corporate farming have turned into a movement which won't stop." In a novel form of protest, a bride made it mandatory for the groom to affix banners rejecting canals at their wedding function in a village in Shahpur Jahania area of Noushehro Feroze district on Friday. The couple, whose marriage was later solemnized in the afternoon, belong to Unar community. Not only banners were put on walls of the wedding hall, but the place reverberated with songs and slogans of nationalists and disapproval for the canals. Rallies and demonstrations were also organised in dozens of other places in many districts of the province.
Express Tribune
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Nationalists, intellectuals reject six water canals
The court has observed that people living downstream on both sides of Indus River are dying because of toxic effluent and waste in Manchar Lake. PHOTO: APP The six water canals being constructed on the Indus River will not only destroy Sindh's agriculture but will also parch urban areas, including Karachi. In the Sindh Unity Conference organized by Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM) at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday, the speakers demanded the government to allow Sindh's rightful share of the water. "It is not only for our agriculture but we won't have water to drink," JSM's Riaz Chandio said. "People in urban areas believe that construction of six canals on the river is a purely issue related to the rural areas," he explained. But, he added, people living Sindh's urban areas especially in Hyderabad and Karachi will face the consequences more than those who live in far flung areas. He appealed Karachiites to take collective action against the project. Rejection the six canals he strongly demanded the government that Sindh must receive its due share of water as per the 1991 Water Accord. The participants urged the United Nations to recognize the Indus River as a living entity, similar to the Magpie River in Canada and other protected rivers worldwide. In the resolution passed by the conference' participants, they condemned the retaliatory actions of the PPP-led government and demanded the immediate release of Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi. The conference was attended by Dr Safdar Abbasi, Sardar Abdul Rahim, Husnain Mirza, Noor-ul-Huda Shah, Dr Kaiser Bengali, Syed Khuda Dino Shah, Manzoor Mirani, Shahab Osto, Dr Ali Hassan Bhutto, Aamir Fayaz Warraich, Naeem Qureshi Advocate and others. The conference also held responsible the provincial and federal governments for rising road accidents. They also condemned the recent accidents in the city, demanding a crackdown on the dumper mafia. The participants also discussed the prevailing law and order situation in Sukkur and Larkana divisions, affecting hundreds of people.
