LAHORE:
The Pakistan peoples party and its ally of the Pakistan Muslim League, Nawaz, exchanged spikes in Punjab on the issue of the construction of six new channels, with the old warning that the situation was already bad in the two provinces, the problem of the channel could put the third province in the same category.
With the protest in Sindh against the construction of six new channels in Punjab that, they feared, would give water on their part, the leader of the PPP, Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmad, whose party was in power in Sindh, at a press conference in Lahore, denounced what he described as a “controversial” project to benefit the farmers of the corporations only in the expansion of the corporate ones. He said the PPP would not allow the government to violate the rights of farmers.
Manzoor said that water is a sensitive problem, so much that Pakistan has a dispute with his neighbor.
“You are killing small Punjab farmers in the name of corporate agriculture, but the PPP will not allow ATHIS to happen. We will be with farmers everywhere,” Ahmad said at a press conference on the controversy of the channels, without appointing the government.
“The situation in the two provinces is already bad, now we also want to do it in the third,” he continued. “The problem of water in Pakistan is very sensitive. There are many protests in Sindh against the new channels,” he added.
Counteracting the guarantees that the participation of Sindh’s water would not be affected, asked where they will get water for this project; Will Punjab cut the supply of other channels?
He said that Pakistan, which was already poor in water by 20 percent, so where they will water this channel. He said that this 20 percent deficit will face for all provinces equally.
He said that they were told that the channels would get water on the floods, so during the nine months, when there is no flood water, where these channels will get the water.
He also questioned the reluctance of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to convene a meeting of the Common Interests Council despite the demands of Sindh and other provinces.
Punjab Minister of Information, Bokhari Azma, responding to the press conference, said that the Pakistan Popular Party should not bring its internal disputes to the media.
She commented that politicizing the water from the channel has always been a PHIE’s practice, while the reality is that the PPP must first determine who the water is: Sindh’s or Punjab.
He pointed out that PPP leaders claim to be with farmers, but they must first verify if the farmers support them.
Bokhari questioned: “Can’t you fight Punjab’s rights while living in Punjab?
The minister emphasized that Punjab does not take away anyone’s rights or allow others to infringe on his own. She said Punjab has always played the role of an older brother, and the story shows that it has never been unfair to anyone.
Bokhari suggested that, instead of questioning the Prime Minister of Punjab, it would be more appropriate for the PPP to seek clarifications from Pakistan’s president about this matter.
