Indus River System Authority challenged in Sindh High Court

KARACHI: The constitution of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has been challenged in the Sindh High Court, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The high court has issued notices to the federal government and Attorney General and summoned reply of the notice by April 07.

Senator Zameer Ghumro told the court that constitution of the IRSA has been unconstitutional and unlawful thus its decisions have no consequence.

“The Sindh High Court has already issued orders that the Indus River authority should have two members from Sindh,” Senator Ghumro said.

He called for declaring the Irsa certificate about Cholistan and Thal canals for the water availability in the river as void.

Despite Sindh’s strong opposition, the Irsa greenlighted water supply to the Cholistan Canal System project and issued a water availability certificate to the Punjab government for the project.

Following the approval, Punjab will construct the Cholistan Canal branching from the Sutlej River at Sulemanki Headworks, providing access to 450,000 acre-feet of water.

The authority’s Sindh member penned a note of dissent expressing disagreement over the approval.

Almost all political and religious parties, nationalist groups and civil society organisations have staged widespread rallies across Sindh against the controversial canal project.