LAHORE: The incarcerated PTI vice-chairman, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has advised the PPP to either demand a Council of Common Interest (CCI) meeting or quit the ruling coalition in the Centre over its objections to proposed canals to irrigate land in Punjab.
The PPP, which is in alliance with the PML-N in the federal government, has expressed serious reservations over a plan to build new canals on the Indus River for farming in Punjab’s Cholistan region.
The PPP leaders have also raised these concerns in talks with PML-N, saying the project would cut the province’s water share and render its lands “completely barren”.
On Friday, PML-N leader and Federal Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal dismissed PPP’s concerns over the project as “baseless debate”.
Jailed PTI leader says Bilawal’s party should demand CCI meeting; calls party’s differences with PML-N ‘noora kushti’
In a handwritten letter seen by Dawn, Mr Qureshi said the PPP should demand an immediate meeting of the CCI, which has representatives from all four provinces.
The CCI meeting — which should take place every three months as per the Constitution — hasn’t been held for almost a year, Mr Qureshi said, adding that in this scenario, the demand for a meeting would be “fair and within the ambit of the Constitution”.
Water, being a very “sensitive issue,” required consensus amongst the federating units as per the Constitution, Mr Qureshi said.
“Why the PPP is quiet over [this issue] being debated in Sindh,” Mr Qureshi stated.
“People of Sindh want to know the correct position [of PPP]. They are interested in the whole truth,” the PTI leader stated.
Mr Qureshi added that the PPP should quit the coalition if it cannot take a stand on this issue.
He, however, downplayed the difference between PPP and PML-N, calling it “nothing more than a “noora kushti”.
According to Mr Qureshi, the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), a group of political parties from Sindh, was also accusing the PPP of surrendering the province’s water rights.
He said if the proposed canals are built, Balochistan, being a lower riparian province would suffer the most.
