Sindh’s Prime Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Saturday that the federal government could not obtain the contentious project of Cholistan channel approved of the Common Interest Council (CCI) due to its strong arguments against the measure.
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 contentious Green Pakistan (GPI) initiative of $ 3.3 billion launched by the federal government to develop six channels to water 1.2 million acres of “arid land” in southern Punjab has strongly opposed the PPP, which is in the power in Sindh, as well as farmers and other interested parties. The lawyers warned the federal government yesterday that they would initiate protests if the planned construction of channels in Cholistan did not stop in a week.
Going to the party workers in Thatta today, the prime minister said: “People say that most of CCI will go against Sindh. I can only handle them in CCI.”
“I am not powerful, but I have reasons to tear them down and lack answers to my justification [in CCI] Otherwise, they would have approved in 2018-2023.
“They will not be able to approve even now,” he said, ensuring workers that the PPP would defend the rights of people.
He said that the opposition was attacking the PPP for supporting the current government because they want to get a free hand, in case the PPP decides in a hurry and after being “blackmail” by the opposition, and do what they want to do with the country.
Specifically mentioned the channels of Cholistan and Chaubara, both projects have been questioned by the Sindh government in the CCI, to explain to the workers how the PPP defended most of Sindh’s water in the Indo River.
“It is not as if the federal government has begun to build the project, but it wants to start construction,” CM Shah said to mention that people who sit in Islamabad must understand one thing.
“Basically, all those who drink from the Indo water and water their lands for agricultural purposes are the real owners of these rivers,” he said, adding that neither the provincial nor federal government was the “owner of the rivers.”
“Let me propose slogans against the channels,” he said when party workers interrupted their speech with the slogans of anticanal projects.
He said it was an internationally accepted principle that riverside users and at the end of the tail have the first right over the river water.
“And if someone has that right first, they are the people of Thatta and Sujawal,” he said alluding to these two coastal districts where a marine intrusion and the agricultural lands had been devoured by the sea.
He told the meeting that party workers must protest to express their feelings and that they have to show their strength.
“What is important now? Is it important that the channels stop or is it important that the opponent campaign and the propaganda against PPP are successful? They want to execute a campaign against PPP. We are not against anyone and we are supporting those who protest,” he said.
He said that the Indo River System Authority (IRSA) made the decision to issue a water availability certificate (WAC) on January 17, 2024, in the midst of a divided decision because the designated member of the Government of Sindh in IRSA (Ehsan Leghari) had reported that injustice was being committed against the province.
Shah said the opposition wanted to create an abyss between the masses and the PPP because it was in the absence of his party that IRSA made the decision of January 17, 2024.
He made it clear that the PPP would not allow any project to begin in the Indo upstream river.
“All these five rivers belong to us,” he said.
He pointed out that the opposition held the president responsible for passing the channel project. Shah said that everything should be resolved after the president, in his speech to the joint session of Parliament in March, made it clear that he could not support the channels.
RS5BN development schemes for each district
CM Shah said the Sindh government had launched a campaign to develop every Sindh, announcing RS5 billion in development schemes for each Sindh district with RS1BN for small -scale projects and communication with recommendations of PPP workers.
He said that the attached commissioners would prepare cost estimates for the proposals that will be incorporated into the next provincial budget.
He talked about the achievements of his government in infrastructure and said that the Karachi-Thatta road was built in a public-private partnership model. It also provided updates on key road projects in the region, including the 84-kilometer coastal road of Sindh, the 65 km road
CM Shah announced as an operation at the Liaquat Medical University College in Thatta and informed the audience that 2.1 million homes were built in Sindh for flood victims with residents who received a total property. He said that the president of the PPP would go to a public meeting in Hyderabad on April 18 and that workers should attend in large numbers.
