The unveiling of the Cholistan Canal under the Green Pakistan Initiative has thrust Pakistan’s perennial water crisis back into the fray. Promising to irrigate 452,000 acres of barren Cholistan desert with 4,120 cu­secs drawn from the Suleman­ki Barrage, this project dangles the tantalising prospect of ag­ricultural rebirth. Yet, it has ig­nited a firestorm, particularly in Sindh, where the provincial as­sembly has rejected not just this ca­nal but also a trio of languishing projects like the Greater Thal Canal, Kachhi Ca­nal, and Chashma Right Bank Canal. For critics, the Cholistan Canal isn’t a har­binger of progress but a flare threaten­ing to set ablaze the brittle ties between provinces. So, should we charge ahead with new canals, or are we just reshuf­fling a shrinking deck?

The 1991 Water Accord was meant to steer us through this morass, a blue­print for sharing Pakistan’s water life­line. Punjab, in its Kharif 37.07 MAF, has 1.87 million acre-feet (MAF) as a share for the Greater Thal Canal. Balo­chistan’s share rose from 1.87 MAF to 3.87 MAF, with the Kachhi Canal meant to deliver this share. Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa’s allocation climbed from 3.06 MAF to 5.58 MAF, depending primarily on the Chashma Right Bank Canal Lift System. These plans aimed to bring to life arid lands, yet decades on, they re­main far from being completed, their promised fields still parched. More damningly, Clause 6, where all parties “admitted and recognised” the pressing need for new storages on the Indus and beyond to fuel future growth, sits un­fulfilled. Reservoirs could have swelled our reserves, a bulwark against scarci­ty. Instead, we are bickering over a di­minishing pool, existing dams having lost about a third of their storage capac­ity to silting. The new Cholistan Canal threatens to widen those cracks.

President, PM extend Eid greetings to Pakistani nation ........

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