LARKANA / KARACHI: The Sindh United Party (SUP) and Sindh United Lawyers Forum (SULF) on Sunday organised demonstrations in many cities and towns of the province against diversion of Sindh’s share in the Indus water to Punjab and other regions through various canals.

The SUP leadership condemned “theft of Sindh’s water” and a discreet silence of the federal authorities, including the Indus River System Authority, over the “blatant violation of the 1991 Water Apportionment Accord”.

In Karachi, a sit-in was held at Teen Talwar, Clifton, to draw the attention of the authorities concern over the continuous violation of the accord which, their leaders said, was bound to turn Sindh’s hundreds of thousands of acres baron, thus devastating the province’s agricultural economy.

Those who spoke to the participants included Sindh Bar Council (SBC) members Zubair Ahmed and Rasheed Rajar; and many senior SUP and SULF leaders like Jagdeesh Ahuja, Muneer Naich and Fahim Zia.

Centre, Irsa urged to save province’s agriculture sector from complete devastation

The protesters also raised slogans against “usurping of Sindh’s lands in the name of corporate farming, looting of the province’s natural resources and a policy of weakening its constitutional rights, according to an SUP release.

In Larkana, SUP leaders and activists staged a rally against operation of the Jalalpur Canal and “all other anti-Sindh projects and initiatives.

The rally, led by the party’s Vice President Syed Muneer Haider Shah, started from Dargah Qaim Shah Bukhari Road and ended outside Jinnah Bagh.

Carrying party flags, placards and banners, the participants kept raising slogans in support of their stance. Those who participated in the rally included Sindh High Court Bar Association President Advocate Muhammad Haseeb Jamali, Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen District President Maulana Imran Chandio, PTI’s Advocate Abdul Rauf Korai, and SUP leaders Manzoor Shaikh, Ghulam Mustafa Shaikh and Sadaruddin Bhatti.

Police take action

A strong contingent of police deployed along the route of the rally suddenly launched a crackdown on the SUP leadership and rally participants.

They resorted to baton-charging the protesters before picking up more than 25 people, including Syed Muneer Haider Shah, Roshan Kalhoro, Ms Nayab Sarkash Sindhi, Sheeba Mughal, Sadaruddin Bhatti, Dr Mazhar Mughal, Advocate Abdul Qadir Bhatti and Advocate Mehboob Bhatti, according to SUP leadership.

The detained people were taken to the Market police station but let off after about two hours.

SUP leader Mehmood Bhutto told Dawn that all the 25 leaders and workers were released after a brief detention.

SUP strongly condemned the police action, saying that it was uncalled for as the rally was entirely peaceful. They said such action would not deter the party to give up its struggle for Sindh’s legitimate rights.

Its leaders said that Sindh must be given its rightful share in the Indus water and that the disputed canal projects permanently shelved.

SUP also took out a rally in Jamshoro to voice its protest against the acute shortage of water in Sindh due to the operation of the Jalalpur and several link canals.

The rally, led by SUP leaders Khalid Lashari, Led by Murtaza Rand, Nazia Solangi and others, the rally started from Station Road and culminated at Kotri’s Al-Madina Chowk.

Addressing the participants, the leaders deplored that Punjab was proceeding with the operation of the Jalalpur and other canals despite strong objections and protests by Sindh.

They said that the diversion of Indus water was destroying crops and lands in Sindh, thus causing heavy economic losses to growers and farmers.

In Badin, a large number of SUP workers and supporters took part in a demonstration held outside the local press club.

They were carrying party flags, as well as banners and placards inscribed with slogans against “grabbing of Indus”, “controversial canals” and “theft of Sindh’s water”.

SUP’s Badin District President Danish Noor Soomro, Syed Hyder Shah and others spoke to the protesters and called for shelving of all these canals and other controversial projects.

Rallies were also taken out in Nawabshah, Sakrand and other towns of Shaheed Benazirabad district on the call given by the SUP leadership.

In Nawabshah, the rally started from Court Road and ended in front of the local press club.

Leading the rally, Mir Jan Magsi, Dr Mumtaz, Sajid Keerio and others said that Punjab’s act of building illegal canals was worsening the water shortage in Sindh in a situation where Sindh’s due share had already been drastically reduced.

They demanded immediate closure of the Jalalpur and other controversial canals.

Such rallies were also held Qazi Ahmed, Daur, Naushahro Feroze and other towns.

Mohammad Hussain Khan in Hyderabad, Qurban Ali Khushik in Dadu, Mohammad Hashim Khan Bhurgari in Badin and Zulfiqar Memon in Nawabshah also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2026