ISLAMABAD : Amid the ongoing protest against the six-canal project designed over Indus River in Sindh, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday said the southeastern province’s rightful share of water would not be affected in any way.
Addressing the National Assembly session, Dar reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to protecting provincial water rights.
“The government is dealing with the issue of water distribution with transparency and care,” he said, adding the recent canal project, which was first proposed in July last year, had been delayed at Sindh’s request for a thorough review.
“I urged my colleagues not to make any decisions without full consultation. We are partners, not dictators, and we cannot impose decisions on such sensitive matters,” the DPM added.
He maintained that while the project was discussed again by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), it had not been approved, as the government awaited consent from all stakeholders. He castigated some political elements in Sindh for using the issue to regain political attention, saying, “The allegations that Punjab is stealing Sindh’s water are completely baseless.” Dar said that in a recent meeting with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, he proposed an independent technical assessment of the canal project to ensure Sindh’s water rights are protected. He also mentioned that, at Sindh’s request, two new telemetry monitoring points were being installed to enhance water transparency. “We are not pushing this project forward for political reasons,” he said. “We are handling it with wisdom and balance.”