Protests Mount Against Proposed Canals on Indus River

The opposition to the construction of new canals on the Indus river in Pakistan has intensified amidst the government’s continued refusal to reconsider the Green Pakistan Initiative (GPI). A large number of farmers and left groups have announced their participation in the ongoing protests. A major, nationwide protest against GPI on March 22 was joined by farmers groups and progressive organizations.

AWP calls national mobilisation against the construction of canals

On Monday, March 17, Awami Workers’ Party (AWP), a prominent left party, announced a nationwide protest against the GPI and new canals on the Indus for March 22. Announcing the protest on its social media page, the party claimed that the GPI is an “unjust development project” as the “Indus has the first right to its water.” 

In a statement, AWP warned that Pakistan will face “impending ecological disaster from Gilgit-Baltistan to Sindh if the expropriation of nature and indigenous peoples is not halted.” It claimed that “while on the one hand vast swathes of land, water bodies, minerals, and highlands are being pillaged in the name of development” working people are pushed to the wall at the behest of “establishment, imperialism and numerous regional players.”  

AWP alleged that the project and similar anti-people policies are rooted in Pakistan’s continued dependence on the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which uses its loan conditions to push for the interests of big capital. Such policies promote the colonization of Pakistan’s natural resources, including the Indus river, the AWP stated, calling for a united fight against it by the country’s democratic and progressive forces.

Farmers from Pakistan’s Punjab province join the struggle

Meanwhile, various farmer leaders from Pakistan’s Punjab province met in Khanewal on Sunday under the leadership of Haqooq-e-Khalq Party (HKP). In the meeting, farmers claimed that the project will not only severely affect the farmers in Sindh but that farmers in Punjab will also be badly affected because of it. Blaming the GPI for promoting large scale commercial farming at the cost of small and marginal farmers who would face displacement, they announced a joint struggle against the project starting on March 24.

A fight for the rights of the poor

The GPI was inaugurated by Punjab’s chief minister Mariyam Nawaz last month. The joint project of the Pakistan army and the Punjab government envisages to convert over 5,000 acres of land into a “smart agri farm”, with large-scale investments in building supportive infrastructure in the semi-arid drought prone region of Cholistan in Punjab. For irrigating Cholistan the project envisages six new canals on the Indus river system.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, one of the leaders of the anti-canal movement, dismissed the claims made by the ruling establishment calling the protests a rise of regionalism. Bhutto denied that the movement has anything to do with regional nationalism claiming the “fight for the river is the fight for the rights of the poor.” 

Bhutto was speaking in a seminar organized by the Concerned Citizens’ Alliance (CCA) over the Canal issue in Karachi on Wednesday. 

Environmentalists warn of ecological and social consequences

Speaking in the seminar, several other environmentalists questioned the need for new canals on the Indus claiming it will have a disastrous impact on the environment of the lower riparian regions causing droughts and leading to mass displacement. The canal may also affect the water supply to big cities in Sindh such as Karachi, speakers claimed. 

Speakers also questioned the project’s legitimacy as it was approved without following the legal procedures and taking in popular consent.  

Growing opposition across Sindh and Punjab against GPI

HKP, Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, and several other groups have been organizing protests against the project across Sindh for months now highlighting the concerns of farmers. The opposition has also claimed that this project would lead to a rise in inter-regional conflicts and harm Pakistan’s federal structure as well.  

Protesters, which also includes the provincial government led by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), have claimed that new canals on the Indus would completely dry the river affecting lower riparian regions in Sindh. They have also questioned the involvement of big corporations in the project claiming it is being done at the behest of the establishment and the IMF.

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch