CCI session on contentious canals summoned today: Sharjeel

KARACHI: Sindh’s senior minister Sharjeel Memon on Monday said that the prime minister has summoned a session of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) session today on the request of the Sindh government, ARY News reported.

The CCI session on the issue of the contentious canals project on Indus was scheduled on May 02 but the session of the federal body ” has been summoned today on the request of the government of Sindh,” Sharjeel Inam Memon said.

It is to be mentioned here that protest sit-ins have been staged across Sindh at various points on highways, including main protest camp at Babarloi in Khairpur led by lawyers’ leaders, against contentious canals from the Indus River- the main artery of life-giving water to Sindh.

The protests have been continued, and protest leaders have refused to accept the government’s announcement that the canals’ matter has been settled and will formally be decided in the CCI session.

“The CCI session, chaired by the prime minister has been summoned in Islamabad on Monday (today) evening,” Sindh’s minister said.

“The canals’ issue will also be decided in the CCI today,” he said.

Sharjeel Memon said that Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah will represent Sindh in the crucial CCI session. “The decision will be made in view of the recent talks between Bilawal Bhutto and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif,” minister said.

“The issue of canals will be settled in the CCI today,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention here that a meeting between the prime minister and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto was held in Islamabad over the canal project. A CCI session was summoned on May 02 in view of that meeting.

Sharjeel Memon said the people facing hardships as the protest against canals was continued despite the announcement about canals project.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken the Sindh government’s request seriously over the issue, provincial minister said.