PPP demands immediate scrapping of Indus canals project
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan Peoples Party Human Rights Cell (PPP-HRC) President on Friday proposed a four point solution to address the ongoing water issues in the country, demanding of the federal government to shelve the controversial Indus canals project.
Speaking at a press conference along with PPP-HRC General Secretary Maliaka Raza, Vice President Zulqarnain Ashghar and member Samina Salam, Babar warned that building new canals in the Punjab, threatening Sindh amid an overall water scarcity, was a “thoughtless and irresponsible” move.
Babar proposed declaring a national drought emergency in the country, a shift from huge infrastructural development projects to water conservation and improved water management, sound population policies, and an end to the culture of elite capture.
“The building of six new canals in the Punjab disregarding the vital interest of the lower riparian Sindh and destroying its agriculture and farmers is a case of elite capture of state resources rather than disharmony between provinces,” the former senator said.