PPP refers canal issue to President for talks with federal govt

KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party has decided to forward the canals issue to President Asif Zardari to raise the issue with the federal government, party sources said.

President Zardari will discuss the matter of building six new canals on Indus River with the federal government after Eid ul Fitr, according to the party sources.

The president will discuss the matter with the prime minister and demand to convene the session of the constitutional forum the Council of Common Interest (CCI) to discuss the canals’ issue.

The People’s Party has also launched its protest campaign after widespread anti-canal protests across Sindh, posing serious credibility issue to the party’s provincial government.

The federal government didn’t contact the PPP despite protests over the issue, neither it has given serious consideration to the demand of convening the CCI meeting, party sources said.

Sindh’s Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah Saturday said that President Asif Ali Zardari didn’t approve any canal project in a meeting.

“President was told about briefing on irrigation and additional land cultivation but the wrong minutes of the meeting issued,” Sindh’s chief minister said in a press conference yesterday.

Referring to the meeting chaired by President Zardari, Murad Ali Shah said that the meeting minutes were wrongly used to suggest presidential approval of the canal projects.

Murad Ali Shah said that in the pretext of the meeting chaired by the president, canals were approved.

Sindh’s chief minister said that a complete record of water shortage in Indus River has been available. “We have challenged the Indus River System Authority’s (IRSA) certification in the Council of Common Interest (CCI) as any canal project must first be discussed and approved by the CCI”.

He said Sindh’s representative had recorded the province’s objection when the issue of six canals, without mentioning the name of Cholistan, was discussed in the ECNEC.