‘PPP cannot continue’: Bilawal threatens end to coalition if canal project continues

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has warned that the party would withdraw from Centre if the federal government did not halt the “controversial” canals project on the Indus River.

“PPP demands that the federal government immediately halted the controversial canals project. Acknowledge our reservations. Otherwise, the PPP cannot continue with you,” Bilawal said while speaking at a rally held in Hyderabad’s Hatri Bypass Ground on Friday night.

The Green Pakistan Initiative (GPI) launched last month is spearheaded by the federal government and hinges on a network of six newly-developed canals that will channel water from the Indus River to irrigate Punjab’s Cholistan region. It is being touted as a bold step towards food security and rural upliftment, transforming barren lands through modern farming techniques.

However, stakeholders fear the project will siphon away water rights from Sindh where the PPP is in power.

“We do not need your ministries, but respect,” the PPP chairperson said in his address on Friday, adding that the canals project was “absolutely unacceptable under any circumstances”.

Bilawal warned that the issue of water distribution could put the federation in danger, adding that people in Islamabad were blind and deaf, and were not willing to listen to their demands. “We are not among those who oppose just for the sake of opposition,” he said and added that they were opposing the [new canal project] because the federal government was in danger.

The PPP chief remarked that the new canals project had been touched upon at a time when militancy was growing in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and said he feared that such a project could result in infighting.

“I thought Shehbaz Sharif would stay away from the project after seeing such a reaction, because he understands that without PPP’s support, he can’t run assembly sessions or pass the budget. But it seems he is not ready to shelve the project. If that is the case, then we are not ready to give up either.”

Bilawal also asked who would speak on the issue if not the PPP.

Earlier, the PPP chief also accused the federal government of denying support prices to farmers and stopping provinces from procuring wheat for the crop. Moreover, he congratulated the people of Umerkot for retaining the seat that had fallen vacant after the demise of Nawab Yusuf Talpur.