——– Meeting scheduled as PPP, PML-N war of words over canal project escalates
——– PPP threatens to topple PML-N-led govt as row deepens
——– Protests rage across Sindh over canal project
——– Govt tries to hush Sindh lawyers over Canal protests whereas PPP aims to pursue for getting their support
From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: A meeting has been fixed between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Sindh’s Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to discuss the contentious issue of canals on the Indus River.
Sindh’s CM Murad Ali Shah, accompanied with Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro and have reached Islamabad for talks with the federal government.
A team of Sindh’s irrigation experts, accompanying with the chief minister also reached the federal capital.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif after his return from Turkey visit will hold meeting with Sindh’s delegation.
The sides will discuss protest sit-ins in Sindh against construction of canals. Murad Ali Shah and irrigation minister Jam Khan Shoro will present Sindh’s stance over the contentious canal project.
The PML-N’s senior leadership holding a meeting with the Sindh government officials. “Federal government wants an immediate end of protest sit-ins in Sindh against contentious canal project”, sources said.
Sources said that the meeting between Shehbaz Sharif and Murad Ali Shah likely to be held tomorrow or on Friday.
People’s Party sources said that a top official of the federal government had engaged the Sindh government.
Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari launched a fresh attack on the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), accusing it of politicising the canal issue and misleading the public as the clash between the federal and Sindh government over the controversial canals project rages on.
Bukhari claimed that “hateful speeches” were being made around the canal issue, and questioned why the PPP wasn’t concerned about the province’s farmers.
She said that the Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari-led party has been ruling Sindh for the past 16 years, and it should “deliver now”. “If the PPP continues to distort facts, they will have to be answerable,” she warned, adding, “Negotiations don’t happen through threats.”
The federal government’s proposed project to construct six canals to irrigate Punjab’s Cholistan desert under the Green Pakistan Initiative, launched in February, has been the bone of contention between the PML-N and its ruling partner, which has a government in Sindh.
After multiple war of words, the ice melted between the two sides to some extent when the two sides agreed to hold negotiations on the matter after Prime Minister’s Adviser on Public and Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah extended the offer of dialogue to Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon on the premier’s behalf.
However, the matter remained unresolved with continued heated exchanges between the Punjab and Sindh provincial governments.
On Tuesday, Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah also said that “the party does not wish to topple the PML-N-led federal government, it has the power to do so”.
In response, Bukhari said that the PML-N had tolerated the criticism and warnings hurled at it for the 16 months of the caretaker governance and is still tolerating.
