• Legal fraternity vows to continue sit-in till issuance of notification
• Save Indus River Movement says Sindhis ‘will no longer fall for lollipops’
• AT sees PM-Bilawal meeting as betrayal of Sindhi people

SUKKUR/KARACHI: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s announcement of bringing to a halt construction of new canals on the Indus River has failed to convince legal fraternity and opposition parties of Sindh as they vow to continue their protest campaign and the sit-in at Babarloi bypass in Khairpur till the issuance of a notification officially annulling the controversial scheme.

The lawyers’ leaders at Babarloi convened a huddle to ponder over the outcome of the prime minister and Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s meeting and decided not to end the sit-in till they saw the notification, and issued another 48-hour ultimatum to the federal government to issue the document.

Karachi Bar Association’s president, Amir Nawaz Warraich, who presided over the meeting, said: “After the 48-hour ultimatum is over, we can take [more drastic] decisions such as blocking the railway tracks.”

He said that they too were hearing reports about the federal government’s issuing the notification and said doctors, lawyers, teachers, labourers, youth, women, men and children were united in their protest against canals.

The meeting was attended by Sindh High Court Bar Association president Barrister Sarfaraz Metlo, Sindh Bar Council’s vice president Shafqat Rahim Rajput and senior lawyers K.B. Laghari and Yasir Arafat Shar.

Save Indus River Movement rejects PM’s announcement

The Save Indus River Movement — a conglomerate of nationalist, religious and political parties and civil society — has rejected the prime minister’s announcement meeting and termed it a “betrayal with people of Sindh”.

“The people of Sindh have spoken loud and clear that they will no longer fall for lollipops or deceptive tactics,” said a statement issued after a meeting of the movement’s leaders.

The meeting, attended by the movement’s convener Sindh United Party chief Syed Zain Shah, Grand Democratic Alliance leader Dr Safdar Abbasi, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Pakistan Sindh chief Haleem Adil Sheikh, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional’s Sardar Abdul Rahim, GDA leader Hasnain Mirza, and other key leaders, said that PPP had already “compromised” Sindh’s interests, making it impossible for the party to cancel the controversial project.

The meeting questioned why allocations of land were made under the Green Pakistan Initiative had not yet been revoked — despite this falling within purview of the Sindh government’s authority.

“Participants [in the meeting] asserted that the May 2 lollipop will not be accepted by the people of Sindh under any circumstances, and warned the PPP that if it believes it can once again deceive the public, it is gravely mistaken,” it added.

Talking to Dawn, Dr Abbasi said that referring the canal issue to the CCI did not signify its resolution it merely caused to prolong it. “We firmly believe there is no room for debate on this issue,” he added.

“The canal project must be scrapped once and for all. We do not recognise the CCI, nor do we consider its members legitimate representatives of people. Our protest will continue unabated until our demands are fully met and the project is permanently abandoned,” he said. AT sees PM-Bhutto-Zardari meet as betrayal to Sindh

Awami Tehreek’s central president, Advocate Vasand Thari, said that the decision to take the canals issue to the CCI taken in a meeting between the prime minister and Bhutto-Zardari was a complete betrayal to people of Sindh.

A statement issued by the party said that despite unabated protests by Sindh’s people, the leadership of the PML-N and PPP was not willing to quit their stubborn stance. As majority on the CCI was from Punjab, the council had lost its integrity, it said.

No person in Sindh trusted the CCI, which had made a wrong decision about the census and conspired to turn Sindhis into a minority, hence all its decisions were rejected, it said.

It said the prime minister had the authority to reject the controversial projects but this was not done in the PM-Bhutto-Zardari meeting. The people of Sindh had not given PPP any right to decide their fate, it said.

Thari said that he along with central leadership of the party and a large number of women from Sindhyani Tehreek would participate in the Babarloi sit-in today.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2025