The Federal Government has deferred its controversial construction project of the channel under the green initiative of Pakistan and has called a meeting of the Common Interests Council (CCI) on May 2 to discuss the matter with all the provinces, after sustained protests in Sindh.
According to a notification issued on Friday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will preside over the 52nd CCI meeting at the Prime Minister’s office.
The session will bring together Vice Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, to the Minister of Defense Khawaja Asif, Minister Amir Muqam and the provincial main ministers. The Minister of Finance, Muhammad Aurengzeb, the Minister of Law, Azam Nazeer Tarar, and the Minister of Health, Mustafa Kamal, will also be present, together with special guests that include ministers for oil, water resources and power.
The meeting comes a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz, flanked by PPP president Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, said at a press conference that “no new channel will be built without consensus on the CCI platform.”
The guarantee followed weeks of protests in Sindh about the Federal Government’s plan to build six channels to water the Cholistan region of Punjab, a movement that PPP leaders and civil society groups saw as a threat to Sindh’s water rights.
Bilawal, together with the leaders of Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah and the main leaders of PPP, emphasized that the construction of the channel must be based on the interprovincial consensus. The federal government, he said, would work with all the provinces to create a long -term unified plan for the development of agricultural and water infrastructure.
At a separate press conference on Friday, Shah declared that the “solved” channel problem, urging protesters to turn their manifestations into celebrations. He said the protests had interrupted the economy and recognized the disposition of the federal government to listen.
“We will oppose any project that goes against the interests of Sindh,” Shah said, but added that dialogue and commitment had begun to close divisions.
