Sindh’s prime minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has firmly opposed the proposed Cholistan channel project, warning that his party has the power to overthrow the federal government.
Talking informally with journalists in Karachi, Murad Ali Shah reiterated that the distribution of water remains the most critical problem of Pakistan. He affirmed that the water scarcity data of the Indo River system contradict federal studies, expressing doubts about the evaluations of the Water and Energy Development Authority (WAPDA).
“People used to say that the Kalabagh dam was being built, and now the same situation is being created with the Cholistan channel,” Murad Ali Shah said, he added that Sindh will resist any movement that undermines its water rights.
Murad Ali Shah accused Punjab of unilaterally proposing a chanab river channel, arguing that such projects require national consensus. “We increase objections in the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) and we will continue to oppose this in the Common Interests Council (CCI),” he said.
He also dismissed the statements that the surplus of 27 million acre-pie (MAF) of water was available for the Delta, saying: “If that were true, our Delta would be blooming. The reality is different.”
The CM of Sindh accused the Federal Government of manipulating meetings on land allocation for the green initiative of Pakistan. “President Asif Ali Zardari told him that additional lands were grown if the provinces did not have objections. But the official minutes of the meeting were altered to justify the construction of the channel,” he said.
Murad Ali Shah insisted that Sindh had approved a resolution against the channels and would not allow its construction. “The Popular Party of Pakistan is a political force, and we will use that force to stop this project,” he said.
According to Murad Ali Shah, Punjab advances with his channel project despite the opposition. “We sent a team in February to inspect the site, and there was no activity. So, suddenly, we discovered that construction had begun,” he said.
He also said that the Punjab government allocated 1.2 million acres for the Pakistan Green Initiative, using solar energy tube wells for corporate agriculture.
CM Sindh demanded that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif publicly announce that the federal government does not support the Cholistan channel project.
“If the prime minister does not make this statement, we will be with the people of Sindh. The opposition wants the federal government to collapse, but we will resist the construction of the channel using constitutional means,” he said.
Murad Ali Shah also invoked the legacy of Benazir Bhutto and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, remembering how PPP successfully blocked the Kalabagh dam project. “The Indo River is our lifeguard. The Federation must respect our position,” he concluded.
