Major political, religious, and civil society groups across Sindh organized extensive rallies on Sunday to protest a contentious plan involving the excavation of six canals to supply water to Punjab. These rallies, despite the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) abstaining from street demonstrations, reflected widespread discontent as PPP still expressed strong opposition to the project.
The largest events took place in Hyderabad, where the Sindh United Party (SUP) concluded its ‘Bedari March’ outside the local press club, and in Larkana, where leaders of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Jamat-i-Islami (JI), Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), and other parties addressed protesters.
In Hyderabad, leaders of the ‘Save River Indus Movement,’ formed by GDA and other nationalist factions, passionately criticized the canal project. SUP President Syed Zain Shah stated that the illegal excavation of six canals could prove disastrous for Sindh, reducing its rightful share of Indus River water from 75% in 1975 to 40% today. He accused the PPP of tacitly supporting the project, highlighting contradictions between its public opposition and internal approvals for initiatives like the Cholistan canal.
Ayaz Latif Palijo, President of Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT), warned that these projects could devastate Sindh’s agriculture. He condemned national institutions like the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) as biased and implicated in approving the plan despite Sindh’s objections.
The Larkana rally saw GDA General Secretary Dr. Safdar Abbasi and JI Sindh chief Kashif Saeed Shaikh, among others, emphasize resistance to amendments in the Irsa Act and reiterated the dangers posed to the region’s crops and ecosystem.
Sindh government spokesman Barrister Arsalan Islam Shaikh, meanwhile, affirmed PPP’s steadfast opposition to compromising Sindh’s water rights. He denounced the project as unconstitutional and emphasized that PPP would employ all legal means, including appeals to the Constitutional Court, to protect the province’s water share. He urged that funds allocated for canal construction should be redirected to sustainable water solutions in Cholistan.
These rallies and protests signify growing tensions as Sindh’s leaders and people demand immediate cancellation of the canal project, fearing it will exacerbate water scarcity and impact livelihoods in the province.
