The protests of lawyers and civil society activists against the construction of six channels of the Indo River have entered their tenth consecutive day, which has stopped traffic between Sindh and Punjab along the National Highway.
The manifestations of sitting, which have grown in size and impulse, have severely interrupted the transport of essential products such as gasoline and food supply, with trucks and trailers stranded for days. Heavy container drivers reported that their vehicles are deteriorating due to prolonged stop.
The protesters insist that they will continue their blockage until an official notification is issued that confirms the cancellation of the project, despite the guarantees of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that no channel will be built without consensus through the Common Interest Council (CCI).
After the high-level conversations between Prime Minister Shehbaz and the president of PPP, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the prime minister announced that the CCI meeting scheduled for May 2 would formally support the agreement to suspend the projects of the channel unless consensus is achieved.
Manifestations have been organized in multiple locations along the National Highway, including Near Mangrio Pump in Daharki, Ghotki, which now enters its eighth day.
Separate protests, such as the sitting of lawyers in Kamoon Shaheed, have also been added to the growing interruption of transport.
Previously, Sindh’s prime minister Murad Ali Shah asked the anti-channel protesters to unlock the roads they have obstructed, as announced by the cancellation of the channel project.
Shah also claimed that “those who push the channel project want the PPP to be power to advance” and said there are two groups of anticanal protesters; Those really oppose the project as it goes against provincial interests, and those who try to use the situation to obtain political profits violating the public mandate of the PPP, thus blocking roads and preventing daily activities.
