Protestors took to the streets in Sindh as the province went to a boil following the killing of two protestors against an army-backed Indus Canal project.
Tensions galore in Pakistan’s Sindh as protestors flocked to the streets against their army-backed Indus Canal project. Sindh went to a boil after two protestors were killed during an agitation against the project. The protestors took a violent route to express their dissent towards the death of the protestors.
On Tuesday, Zahid Laghari, an activist of the Sindhi nationalist party Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM), was shot dead by the police. The protestors went violent in the Naushahro Feroze district of northern Sindh. This turned Sindh into a ‘virtual battlefield’, as reported by the Dawn. The protestors set vehicles on fire, looted goods trucks, ransacked a petroleum company office, and vandalised the house of Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar.
After the police opened fire in Moro town of Naushahro Feroze district, more than 15 protesters were injured, at least five of them critically, local media reports reported. Dr Yar Mohammad Jamali, the medical superintendent at Peoples Medical University Hospital in Nawabshah, stated that at least five of the injured people had bullet wounds. Notably, at least six policemen were also injured during the protests as protesters pelted stones, an official said.
Why is Sindh boiling?
The province is boiling as protestors flocked to the streets against an army-backed Indus River project. New canals will be constructed on the Indus River. Sindhi nationalists and critics believe that the construction of the canals would primarily benefit Punjab’s feudal landlords and corporate farming interests. They argue that this would exacerbate water scarcity in Sindh and blame Punjab for the domination of their water woes.
The project is worth 3.3 billion USD and is officially known as the Green Pakistan Initiative. It was launched by Army Chief and now Field-Marshal Asim Munir and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. They reasoned that this would irrigate millions of acres of previously uncultivable land in Punjab and in parts of Sindh. However, it was conceived to divert the water from the Indus River, which is a lifeline for agriculture in Sindh.
As reported, the Pakistan government in April had announced that the project would be shelved till a consensus is found at the Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting. The protests continued as the people demanded the cancellation of the project.
Several people claimed that the project was still underway secretly. “The canal project has not stopped. With modern machinery, work is going on. The project has added three more canals to six controversial canals, making them nine,” said Sindhi writer-activist Ustad Rahi Soomro on May 18.
