Pakistan: Bhutto threatens to withdraw support over disputed Indus canal project

Islamabad: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the ruling coalition partner of country’s federal government, has threatened to exit the government if the controversial canal project on the Indus River is not shelved, local media reported on Saturday.

Addressing a large public gathering at the Hatri Bypass Ground in Pakistan’s Hyderabad late Friday night, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that his party would not go along with the federal government if it didn’t withdraw the controversial projects, even after acknowledging the PPP’s objections.

He complained that they (the federal government) are neither listening to their coalition partner, nor are they taking back the decision to build new canals.

“I thought Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would stay away from the project after seeing such a reaction because he understands that without PPP support, he can’t run assembly sessions or pass the budget. However it seems he is not ready to shelve the project. If that is the case, then we are not ready to give up either,” Bilawal Bhutto said.

Lashing out at coalition partner Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), he claimed that their projects consistently harm the agricultural sector.

“Every initiative backed by the party is anti-farmer,” Bilawal Bhutto added.

Meanwhile, thousands of people, mainly lawyers, gathered in Babarloi town of Khairpur district from across Sindh province in response to the Karachi Bar Association’s call for an indefinite sit-in against the federal government over the six canal project on the Indus River.

Lawyers, leaders, workers, and supporters of various Sindhi nationalist groups and civil society organisations are taking part in the protest.

Addressing the protesters and local journalists, Karachi Bar Association President Amir Warraich said that the sit-in would continue for an indefinite period. He demanded immediate shelving of the canal project on the Indus, adding that it was bound to render Sindh’s lands barren.

“There can be no compromise on Sindh’s share in the Indus River water,” he declared. Warraich further warned that if the demands were not met, the legal fraternity would boycott court proceedings and also block rail traffic across Sindh to lead the ongoing struggle into the next phase.

Furthermore, a large number of growers and their supporters staged a rally under the aegis of Sindh Abadgar Ittehad in Tando Muhammad Khan town of Sindh province on Friday as part of the ongoing protest against the controversial canals project on the Indus River.

The growers who led the protest warned that people from the entire Sindh would participate in the sit-in at Babarloi staged by lawyers and political activists. “The federal government should shelve the canal project on the Indus River. If this project were not cancelled, it would lead to the ouster of the government,” they stated.

IANS