Sindhi peasants continued sit-in hunger strike on 95th consecutive day against alleged irrigation water theft in the province by the feudal lords and their accomplices.
The growers under the platform of Hari (Farmer) Committee staged sit-in for 88 days in Khairpur, Sindh to plea the Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah to end grievances of bread earners but of no avail.
The chairman of the Hari Committee Ghulam Rasool said that they were totally disappointed by the Sindh government, therefore, the office bearers decided to flee towards Islamabad.
Talking to this news agency Rasool said that several members of the parliament are allegedly involved in the water theft and their collaborators also follow them in the same way. He added that provincial administration was reluctant to stop the water theft because of reconciliation government setup.
He further said that secretary irrigation Sindh demanded four times of CM Qaim Ali Shah to deploy Rangers in district Khairpur to stop the water theft. It is important that the issue is also under consideration of the provincial assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) under the chairmanship of MPA Jam Tamachi.
He mentioned that thousands of hectares of non-command areas in Sindh have been occupied by the feudal lords and their ssistants. He said that according to irrigation water regulations, the non-command areas are not authorized to receive irrigation water but the influential land lords consume canal water illegally, so this situation causes severe scarcity of water for small farmers and peasants of Sindh, and acres of cultivable land in the province has turned barren.
He said that the peasants of Sindh firstly took up the issue in 2001 during former president Musharraf’s era and their movement still continues without any fruitful results.
The Chairman further reiterated that the hunger strike would not end till death or acceptance of farmers’ demands.
The office bearers of the Hari Committee demanded the apex court to take notice of the situation.
Sindhi peasants continue sit-in, hunger strike
