The Government announced on Thursday that it was stopping the contentious channel project after the conversations with the PPP in the midst of the opposition of many sectors in the country and the uncertainty created by the unilateral suspension of India of the India Treaty of the Waters of the Indo (IWT) until a consensus could be achieved on the subject in the Common Interests Council (CCI).
The Chief of the Army, the general also Munir, and the Prime Minister of Punjab, Maryam Nawaz, inaugurated the ambitious Cholistan project to water the lands of South Punjab on February 15 in the middle of a public uproar and strong reserves in Sindh. The Sindh Assembly also approved a unanimous resolution against the project in March.
The last months have seen the national protests of political parties, including the ally of the ruling coalition and the residents against the proposed project.
In the midst of the situation already tense, India closed the borders, the degraded diplomatic ties and, in an unprecedented movement, the IWT suspension announced unilaterally on what the government and the media of the Bharatiya Janata party claimed, without offering any specific or concrete evidence about their allegations.
Going to a press conference with the president of PPP, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, after a meeting with the party, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said they considered the situation of the country in detail and the Indian advertisements related to the rivers.
“Today we decided at the meeting between the PPP and PML-N that until the decision is not made with mutual consensus in the Common Interest Council, there will be no more river and there will be no more progress in the channels with cooperation of provinces.”
He said the CCI meeting was being summoned on May 2.
More to follow.
