- Azma Bokhari says that the channels project unnecessarily politicized.
- President Zardari’s claims had approved, signed a relevant document.
- Sharjeel Memon says that the president has no prerogative to start.
Lahore, Karachi: The War of Words between the governments of Punjab and Sindh intensified on the controversial project of the Cholistan Canal, which has become a key point of discord between the Pakistani peoples (PPP) party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) recently, The news reported on Sunday.
The last verbal skirmish implies the response of the Minister of Information of the Sindh, Sharjeel Memon, to his counterpart in Punjab, Azma Bokhari, in which the latter reiterated the opposition of the PPP to the canals following the remarks of the first against the position of the PPP on the issue.
The question concerns the Federal Government Plan to build six channels on the Industry river to irrigate the Cholistan desert – a project that was rejected by its main Ally PPP and other nationalist parties in the Sindh.
According to government sources, the estimated cost of the canal and the Cholistan system is RS211.4 billion and thanks to the project, thousands of sterile land acres can be used for agricultural purposes and 400,000 acres of land can be cultivated.
Almost all political and religious parties, nationalist groups and civil society organizations organized generalized rallies through the Sindh against the controversial plan.
The party led by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has repeatedly expressed reservations on the project, President Asif Ali Zardari warning the government that some of its unilateral policies cause “serious pressure” on the federation.
Bilawal, while addressing a public rally on Friday, warned that his party would not allow any “irresponsible decision” on the distribution of water and would resist any attempt to division the country through controversial projects.
However, in the light of the position of PPP, the Minister of Punjab of Information Bokhari, while he was speaking at a press conference in Lahore, said President Zardari had signed the document relating to the channels – a complaint rejected by MEMON later.
Saying that the Cholistan Canals project was unnecessarily politicized in the Sindh, although he documented the approval of President Zardari, Bokhari stressed that the question of the canal cannot be resolved by gatherings or media declarations.
“We are not in a fight, but they continue to launch verbal attacks,” she said.
Responding to his presser, Memon stressed that the PPP chief Bilawal had already made an unequivocal policy declaration against the proposed construction of new channels while recognizing him as the biggest problem for the inhabitants of the Sindh.
Reacting to Bokhari’s complaint regarding the approval by President Zardari of the project, Memon said that she should first read the Constitution to find out that he was not the president’s prerogative to approve new development projects in the country.
He said the PPP would not arrive at a collision trajectory with the outgoing federal government.
“It could be the Agenda of the Punjab government that we withdraw our support from the federal government,” he said.
The Minister of the Sindh also noted that the government authorities of Punjab had not yet informed the relevant districts of the Sindh about the source of water on which they would count to exploit the new irrigation channels proposed in their province.
Memon recalled that Benazir Bhutto (late) had led a sit-in protest on the border of Sindh-Punjab to agitate against the proposed construction of the Kalabagh dam. He said the PPP was the first political entity in the country which raised the issue of the irrigation channels proposed in the country.
He informed the media that the PPP would hold a historic public meeting in Hyderabad on April 18 on the questions of the channels and terrorism in Pakistan. He said the opposition political parties, which had led the anti-channel campaign, unduly targeted the PPP. He said that the inhabitants of the Sindh had total realization that the PPP would never compromise on the legitimate interests of Sindh.
He informed the media that the PPP believed by making politics in a mature manner with the best efforts to protect the authentic interests of the people, because this professional policy of his party would always continue.
He said that certain reckless elements of the PML-N have published public statements without going through the Constitution. He told journalists that the PPP wanted the four provinces of the country to work in harmony and unit for the country’s progress.
The senior minister of the Sindh said that Benazir Bhutto and President Zardari had always endeavored to strengthen the country.
He deplored that the political elements that supported the Kalabgah dam project in the past have now descended the street against the new channels.
He mentioned that the Sindh -chief Minister of Head has repeatedly written to the federal government to convene the meeting of the Common Interest Council to resolve these controversial interprovincial issues in accordance with the Constitution.