Sindh turns battlefield over Pak Army's Indus canals, 2 shot dead

India Today

21-05-2025

The agitation in Pakistan's Sindh province against the controversial, army-backed canal project on the Indus River System has gained fresh momentum. Two activists were shot dead on Tuesday as protests intensified after having subsided last month following the shelving of the project. Blaming Punjab's domination for their water woes, Sindh protesters attacked the house of a minister belonging to the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).advertisementSindh and Punjab are two of Pakistan's four provinces. Inhabitants of Sindh have held Punjab, which is the power centre of both the civilian and military establishments, responsible for putting it lower on the priority list.While protests and police action turned northern Sindh into a "virtual battlefield", Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairperson of the PPP, came in for sharp criticism for its shaky stance on the canal protests from Sindhi nationalist party Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM).
The Sindh-based PPP is part of Shahbaz Sharif's ruling coalition in Islamabad and holds power in Sindh.JSMM Chairperson Shafi Burfat accused Pakistan's military establishment of using an "immature, power-hungry, and unserious" Bilawal to advance its own geopolitical objectives and suppress the canal protests.HOW NORTHERN SINDH TURNED INTO A BATTLEFIELDTensions escalated on Tuesday after Zahid Laghari, an activist of the Sindhi nationalist party Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM), was shot dead by police. In response, protests turned violent in Naushahro Feroze district of northern Sindh, turning it into a "virtual battlefield".advertisementDemonstrators blocked a national highway and set a couple of oil tankers on fire.The unrest in Sindh intensified further as protesters stormed the residence of Sindh's Interior Minister, Ziaul Hassan Lanjar. They vandalised the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader's house and set parts of it, including the drawing room, on fire.Apart from JSMM activist Laghari, another unnamed protester died as a result of indiscriminate police firing, reported the Karachi-based The News International.More than 15 protesters were injured, at least five of them critically, after police opened fire on protesters in Moro town of Naushahro Feroze district, according to the Karachi-based independent media outlet The Rise News.Protests had died out after the federal government claimed to have shelved the Indus canals project, but the protesters never left the agitation sites, alleging that construction activities continued secretly. Many also saw the shelving as a tactical move by the army-led regime to defuse backlash without actually abandoning the plan.Fresh aggressive protests began on May 19, marked by violence.Protestors, mostly affiliated with the Sindh Saba Party led by Ashfaq Malik, blocked the Moro bypass road to protest against corporate farming and the proposed construction of canals, reported Dawn, a Karachi-based newspaper.advertisementArmed with rods and sticks, protesters chanted slogans as police tried to disperse them.The situation escalated quickly, with police resorting to baton charges and aerial firing. Over a dozen people, including a DSP and six police officers, were injured in the chaos and a police van was damaged.Shops were shut down and roads were deserted as the area turned into a "virtual battlefield", noted the Dawn report. In response, policemen from multiple districts of northern Sindh were deployed to restore order.Apart from the protests in Moro, similar demonstrations erupted in nearby towns, including Kandiaro and Faiz Ganj, reported Samaa TV.Meanwhile, a similar protest planned in Hyderabad was thwarted by police, who cordoned off the area and detained two Sindh Saba activists, according to Dawn.$3.3-BILLION ARMY-BACKED CANAL PLAN DREW SINDH IREThe $3.3-billion canal project, officially known as the Green Pakistan Initiative, was launched in February 2025 by Army Chief Asim Munir and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. They said the project in the Indus River system would irrigate millions of acres of previously uncultivable land in Punjab and parts of Sindh.Proponents, including the military and Shahbaz Sharif's federal government, touted it as a solution to Pakistan's food security crisis.advertisementHowever, the project sparked outrage in Sindh in April, where it was perceived as a move to divert water from the Indus River, critical to the province's agriculture and identity.Critics, including Sindhi nationalists, argued that the canals would primarily benefit Punjab's feudal landlords and corporate farming interests, exacerbating water scarcity in Sindh.The project also revived the long-standing provincial rivalry between Sindh and Punjab. The unrest was compounded by India's suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty after the Pakistani deep-state-sponsored Pahalgam attack, which heightened fears of water shortages in already-parched Sindh.The hybrid Islamabad-Rawalpindi regime faced widespread opposition from Sindh's political parties, nationalist groups, and civil society.Following weeks of protests in April, including highway blockades that disrupted transport to Karachi Port, the Pakistani government announced on April 24, 2025, that the project would be shelved until a consensus could be reached at the Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting.Despite this, protests continued, demanding a permanent cancellation of the project.However, several prominent voices, including Sindhi writer-activist Ustad Rahi Soomro, alleged that despite official claims of halting the canal project, work on it had quietly continued."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 Soomro on May 18.advertisementPPP AND BILAWAL BHUTTO FACE BACKLASH OVER INDUS CANALS PROJECTBilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairperson of the Sindh-based PPP and son of Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, has come under fire for his and his party's stance on the canal project, as well as for consistently "failing to represent the genuine interests of Sindh and its people".Bilawal had initially endorsed the army-backed canal project, describing it as "vital" for Pakistan's interests. However, as public outrage grew, he shifted his position and criticised the federal government's handling of the issue, saying, "The people of Sindh have rejected the canal projects, yet those in Islamabad remain blind and deaf to our voices".After the project was "shelved" by the federal government, Bilawal also played the India card, saying, "India's announcement on the Indus Waters Treaty was not illegal, but against humanity... As long as the PPP exists, not a single drop of Sindh's water will be given away".Bilawal tried to use the India card and New Delhi's move to the IWT, where his stance remained shaky.advertisementThis shaky stance did not shield him from fierce criticism from the chief of JSMM, whose activist was killed by police firing on Friday.Shafi Burfat, the chairman of the Sindhi nationalist party JSMM, accused Bilawal of being a pawn of the "Punjabi military establishment".He further labelled Bilawal as "immature, power-hungry, and unserious", accusing the PPP of abandoning Sindh's interests to serve Punjab's feudal elite rather than standing up for Sindhi rights or autonomy.Burfat also alleged that the military was manipulating Bilawal to spearhead Rawalpindi's objectives, including its anti-India campaign, promising him political power in return.While the Indus canal protests have exposed fault lines in Pakistan's federal structure, Sindh's resentment against the Punjab-dominated establishment has now reached a boiling point. Even as Islamabad tries to fire-fight, the continued unrest signals that trust has eroded far beyond repair.Tune InMust Watch