Govt's 'unilateral policies' causing 'grave strain' on federation: Pak Prez Zardari

Islamabad, Mar 10 (PTI) Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday cautioned the government that its "unilateral policies" were a source of a "grave strain" on the federation as he raised his party's concern about proposed new canals in Punjab.

He was addressing the joint session of the parliament at the beginning of the second parliamentary year and took the opportunity to highlight the issue of new canals, which the government was planning to develop with the support of the army and the provincial government of Punjab.

Sindh, being the lower riparian, opposed the idea and its various parties and groups are up in arms against the proposal and staging protests.

Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which has been in power in Sindh for years, has been criticised by rival groups for not forcing the federal government to drop the idea. The president used his address to flag the issue and appease his power base.

“It is … my constitutional duty as your president, my personal obligation as a patriotic Pakistani, to caution this House and the government, that some of your unilateral policies are causing grave strain on the federation. In particular, the government’s unilateral decision to carve out more canals from the Indus River System, despite strong opposition from federating units,” he said.

“I urge this government to abandon this current proposal and work together with all stakeholders to come up with viable, sustainable solutions based on unanimous consensus among the federating units,” he said, asserting that he cannot support the proposal.

The proposed canals have been planned to irrigate land in the Cholistan area in Punjab, but various parties in Sindh allege that it would reduce the provincial share in the Indus River basin and damage agriculture.

The PPP also voiced concern over the controversial canals, but the government so far refused to oblige with the plea that the Punjab province would use its share of water as per the water accord of 1991 among the provinces.

The project is part of the Green Pakistan Initiatives (GPI), a brainchild of the army-led Special Investment Facilitation Council, which aims to develop Pakistan on a fast-track basis. PTI SH ZH ZH