The Sindh Progressive Party (STPP) has called a strike in the province on December 18 against the federal government’s controversial plan to build new canals to divert excess water from the Indus River for farming purposes.
The strike call was given by STPP Chairman Dr. Qadir Magsi while addressing the participants of a protest march against the government’s new canal project from Ghaghar Phatak to Fawara Chowk near Saddar on Sunday.
Dr. Magsi told the participants of the march that if new canals are built on the Indus River, the farmlands in Sindh will become barren. He said that he will fight hard to protect Sindh, which is his motherland.
He told the protest march that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s government is going to build six new canals on the Indus River. He further said that if new canals are built, there will be severe shortage of river water in the province.
He said that if new canals were constructed by the federal government, the farms in the tail-end areas of Sindh’s Badin and Thatta districts would suffer severe damage due to drought.
The STPP leader vowed to face any violent force to protect water in the Indus River.
He warned the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Sindh government to clarify its position on the controversial canal project. He said that the ruling People’s Party in the province was bound to convince the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led federal government to refrain from implementing the controversial canal project.
He said that if the People’s Party fails to fulfill its responsibilities, the people of Sindh will come forward to protect their water rights.
Dr. Magsi appealed to the concerned residents of Karachi and the rest of Sindh to take action to protect their water rights. He announced that the peaceful protest movement will continue until the government announces the cancellation of its controversial canal project.