Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal has been roundly taken to task for his dismissive attitude to Sindh’s objections to the proposed construction of six new canals on the Indus to water the Cholistan desert. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Sindh president Nisar Khuhro and former chairman Senate Raza Rabbani have criticised Ahsan Iqbal for rubbishing Sindh’s objections to the project as a ‘baseless debate’. To prove the worthy Federal Minister for Planning wrong, Khuhro and Rabbani have in no uncertain terms laid out Sindh’s case on the issue.

First and foremost, Nisar Khuhro questioned where the water to fill the Cholistan canals’ 4,152 cusecs capacity would come from. As it is, Khuhro argued, the 1991 Water Accord has never been implemented in its true spirit. It is a fact that the Water Accord agreed under the Nawaz Sharif government after its desired Kalabagh Dam project was shot down set a provisional figure of 10 MAF flow downstream Kotri, pending further studies.

This 10 MAF provisional flow was intended to meet southern Sindh’s agricultural and drinking water needs, as well as safeguard the Indus Delta from sea intrusion. In a totally dishonest manner, this provisional 10 MAF is released during the summer flood and monsoon season in one go, leaving the Indus dry downstream Kotri for most of the year.

This legerdemain has destroyed agriculture in the southern districts of Thatta, Badin, Sujawal, Tando Mohammad Khan, etc., and........

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