Pakistan: Awami Tahreek condemns diversion of Indus river flow

The party held the meeting with their President Lal Jarwar in the chair and noted that the natural course of the river was being diverted for the Dasu power project would destroy Sindh's economy and also condemned the launch of a digital census.

The meeting on Sunday said that the closure of the old waterways in 2022 led to the artificial flood and devastated large tracts of farmland while negative implications of the Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) and Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) were witnessed by the entire world, it said.

It is observed that the government would have to take steps to avert the shortage of water in Sindh by all means and the rulers would have to put an end to anti-people policies, according to Dawn.

Earlier on Sunday, Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) stated that construction work has been initiated on a temporary dam after the diversion of the river, ARY News reported.

"The work on the main dam of the hydropower project will begin after completion of the temporary dam," according to the spokesperson.

Wapda has also stated that the second under-construction diversion tunnel will be completed by the mid of April this year.

"During the high flow season, the water of the Indus River will pass through both diversion tunnels," the spokesperson said.

Lal Jwarwar said that PPP's Sindh government in collusion with the federal government had diverted the natural course of the river for the Dasu power project and accused Wapda of violating international and national laws on the water in the execution of the project.

He said Punjab's ruling class had routinely stolen water from Indus. The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) was patronising forces, which were involved in the economic genocide of the Sindhi people, he said.

Meanwhile, the party expressed their fear that outsiders would be thrust over the province through a digital census likely to convert Sindhis into the minority, Dawn reported. (ANI)