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Her Excellency
British Deputy High Commission Karachi,
Shahrah-e-Iran, Clifton,
Karachi-75600
Sindh
Re: United Kingdom must help Sindhis in their peaceful struggle for
environmental rights on River Indus.
Dear Sir,
We the members and supporters of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Muhaz have gathered here
today as part of our campaign to inform the international community over the
building of mega water projects (Greater Thal Canal and Kalabagh Dam) on
River Indus by the Federal Government of Pakistan. We appeal to Her
Majesty’s Government that all the relevant departments must ensure that
human rights, environmental, and water issues are amicably and lawfully
settled prior to releasing any aid packages to the government of General
Musharaf.
General Musharaf’s current government as well as the past regimes of
Pakistan has been adopting the policies which have been blatantly
discriminating against Sindh. Denial of the right to development to Sindh
has been a core policy of Pakistan in assuring the dominance of Punjab
province over Sindhi nation who has always been on the forefront of
democracy and secular movements.
Even by Pakistani standards, more than 50% of the officially counted
population of 30 million lives below poverty line in Sindh. A recent survey
done by Asian Development Bank revealed that the poverty rate of Sindh and
Baluchistan provinces is 53% and 54% respectively.
Agriculture remains the major source of income in Sindh, but the region’s
agricultural industry is victim to the water theft from River Indus. Today,
we specifically want to highlight our deepest concerns over the on-going
mega irrigation project called Greater Thal Canal (GTC) on the upper
riparian of River Indus. This project costs Rs. 35 billion (US $ 600 M) and
is designed to carry 2.5 Million Acre Foot (MAF) irrigation water out from
River Indus System to cultivate 1.53 million acres of arid land in the
province of Punjab. Many current and retired military generals and tribal
landlords supporting the government own lands in that part of Punjab.
The work on the GTC was started in August 2001, and was inaugurated by
General Parvez Musharaf, without any consensus from the Government of Sindh
or any other technical and administrative bodies in Pakistan. Government of
Sindh, people of Sindh and many other local and international NGOs have
rejected this project and have expressed their deep concerns over its
environmental and ecological impact on people of Sindh. Last year, Sindh
Assembly twice unanimously voted for the cancellation of this project.
Since early 2001, millions of people have peacefully protested through
thousands of marches, hundreds of hunger strikes and signature campaigns.
Some of these protests are being dealt with police aggression. In June 2001,
police fired on protesters resulted in killing of two activists. In same
month government imprisoned more than 600 environmental activists. Some of
these have been released on bail after several months of imprisonment. These
activists still have to face the lengthy and costly court procedures. On
February 10th, more than 100,000 Sindhis gathered in Karachi to register
their protest against the construction of GTC.
The Indus River system cannot afford to have any more upper riparian canal
project such as GTC. According to the Water Management and Distribution
Committee report in year 2000, the current flow of the Indus (four out of
every five years) is 123.59 MAF--approximately 15.59 MAF less than what is
required to meet the bare minimum needs of four provinces and bare survival
of Indus Delta region. Building a new Canal with the capacity of 2.5 MAF
would worsen this situation even further.
GTC will create various agro-ecological problems. It will wipe out the
wetlands and mangrove forests in Sindh, some of which are internationally
protected under Ramsar Agreement. These wetlands provide a habitat for many
plants and animals, including many endangered species (like Blind Dolphin).
Animal species, such as, Shad or Pallo fish, Barramundi fish, Dangri fish,
and shrimps are threatened to become extinct due to this water shortage. GTC
will also create shortage of water in the "kacho" area depriving 100,000
people from their livelihood.
The Indus water discharge to the sea keeps the sea water at bay and does not
let it intrude too much into the surface and ground water resources inland.
Due to the water theft in last few decades, salt-water intrusion has been
witnessed inland up to 100 kilometres north of the sea.
We believes that GTC, and other similar projects, are the breach of
Pakistan’s constitution, (which is currently modified by General Musharaf),
and international law. This Project violates the ILO Convention on
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples 1989 (i.e. C169), Article 15, which states
that, "The rights of the peoples concerned to the natural resources
pertaining to their lands shall be specially safeguarded." UN Convention on
the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses, 1997 was
passed by the General Assembly. This convention offers the basic principle
for the states, that is to have only equitable and reasonable use with no
significant harm to any party. GTC certainly violates this convention too.
We believe that water is not only the issue of environment, ecology, and
culture, but it is also the question of Peoples' survival and security. With
out the help of international community and a broad neutral international
monitoring body, competition over water in Pakistan could eventually lead to
serious conflict. We also believe that Water dispute amelioration is as
important, more effective, and less costly, than conflict resolution.
We appeal to Her Majesty’s Government to impress upon the government of
Pakistan to change its policy of building large dams and canals and instead
create a comprehensive water plan for Pakistan based on the following
principles:
Fair Indus River water policies should be developed and implemented based on
the Sindh-Punjab agreement of 1945. These policies should ban construction
of any evil projects, including the Kalabagh Dam, Greater Thal Canal, and
similar projects.
A study should be conducted to cover all environmental and ecological
consequences downstream from Kotri Barrage due to reduced water releases.
The study must establish the water needs downstream for human population,
protection of mangroves, prevention of sea intrusion, sustenance of
fisheries, and maintenance of groundwater quality.
A new agreement should be developed based on the 1945 Sindh - Punjab
agreement and the 1962 Indus Basin Water Treaty between India and Pakistan.
The new agreement must recognize the internationally accepted lower riparian
rights.
We hope after listening to these facts you would help us in conveying the
plights of Sindhi people and influence General Musharaf and Pakistani
establishment to respect the universal principles of justice, liberty and
peace.
Yours truly,
On behalf of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Muhaz
Bashir Ahmed Qureshi
Chairman
Jeay Sindh Qaumi Muhaz |