The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday staged a sit-in outside the Karachi Press Club and led a rally to Empress Market against the proposed construction of six new canals on the Indus River.<\/p>\n
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Chief of the Army Staff Gen Asim Munir inaugurated the ambitious Cholistan project to irrigate south Punjab\u2019s lands on February 15 amid public uproar and strong reservations in Sindh.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Sindh Assembly unanimously passed a resolution against the construction of six new canals on the Indus River in March, demanding an immediate halt to any plans, activities or work until an agreement was reached with all provincial governments.<\/p>\n
Addressing the protest on Sunday, Functional League Sindh General Secretary and GDA Information Secretary Sardar Abdul Rahim said that the Pakistan People\u2019s Party (PPP) has \u201calways relied on falsehoods and deception\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entire province of Sindh, from Karachi to Kashmore, is protesting against the canal project, and unrest has spread throughout the region,\u201d he said. \u201cThose who have bartered Sindh\u2019s interests have become a curse in the eyes of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called upon the people of Karachi to rise up against the illegal extraction of water from the Indus River through these canals, warning that \u201cKarachi receives 85 per cent of its water from the river and that without downstream flow, water supply to the city would become impossible\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cInternational organisations are also warning that Sindh\u2019s water resources are drying up,\u201d Rahim said. \u201cUrdu and other language-speaking residents of Karachi must unite with their Sindhi brethren to save the Indus River.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are deeply concerned. Karachi will be severely affected,\u201d he added. \u201cThe slogan \u2018No Canals, No Copies\u2019 should echo from Karachi. If Karachi rises, the entire country will awaken.\u201d<\/p>\n
Criticising PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, he said, \u201cThose who dreamt of making him prime minister saw on April 4 in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh that he cannot even secure the Chief Minister\u2019s seat.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cBilawal claims to be from Mohenjo Daro, yet the funds provided by Unicef for its preservation were also embezzled. These people failed to develop Gorakh Hill, failed in education, and failed to provide healthcare.\u201d<\/p>\n
Addressing a rally in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on Friday, Bilawal had said that he was the first to raise his voice against the canal project, adding that the party expressed frustration with the federal government at its central executive committee meeting in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said that we would not allow this project to happen \u2026 the PPP said that it did not support this unilateral decision,\u201d Bilawal had said. \u201cEven the President of Pakistan said in a joint address before the Senate that he stands against the government\u2019s unilateral decisions, as they bring harm to the federation.\u201d<\/p>\n
PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh said, \u201cIt\u2019s not just prisoner number 804 (party founder Imran Khan) who is in captivity \u2014 we all are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSindh has awakened against the canal project,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Sheikh accused President Asif Ali Zardari of \u201ctaking it upon himself to construct the canals\u201d, adding, \u201cDue to the 26th Constitutional Amendment, the judiciary has become controversial. The most powerful position in the federal government is held by Zardari.\u201d<\/p>\n
Karachi Bar Council President Aamir Nawaz Warraich stated, \u201cWe have passed a resolution against the illegal canals being constructed on the Indus River. These canals are completely unlawful.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Pakistan is to be saved, this canal project must be scrapped. Otherwise, the stability of the country will be at risk. The legal community\u2019s protest will continue across Sindh until the notification is withdrawn.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday staged a sit-in outside the Karachi Press Club and led a rally to Empress Market against the proposed construction of six new canals on the Indus River. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Chief of the Army Staff Gen Asim Munir inaugurated the ambitious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7895"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7897,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7895\/revisions\/7897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}