Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said no new canals would be built without mutual consensus by provinces in the Council of Common Interests (CCI).
The decision also comes amidst the backdrop of India unilaterally suspending the Indus Waters Treaty on Wednesday.
Tensions between the coalition partners kept rising on the project called Green Pakistan Initiative (GPI). Under this project, six canals will be built across the country to irrigate millions of acres of barren lands costing around $3.3 billion.
The project was launched in 2023 by Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The ambitious project aims to build canals across all four provinces; however, PPP has outright rejected the development, arguing that it infringes on Sindh’s water shares.
The Sindh Assembly also passed a unanimous resolution against the project in March. For the past few months, PPP and Sindh nationalist political parties have staged widespread protests against the construction of canals on Indus River.
During a meeting with a delegation of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led by its Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the federal government has decided that no progress on the issue of canals would be made without consensus among the provinces.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated that he informed the PPP delegation about the decisions reached by the National Security Committee in response to the announcements by India, which took an aggressive stance against Pakistan.
“We have issued a press statement against the jingoistic steps of India after deliberations by the National Security Committee,” he added.
The prime minister said he explained that Pakistan was a federation and the issue among provinces should be resolved with negotiations and sincerity and according to the national interest.
He said it was his stated position for decades that economically Kalabagh dam was in the interest of the nation, adding however, nothing was more important than the federation and the objections of federating units should be accepted on the issue of Kalabagh dam.
The PM assured Bilawal that the issue of canals should be resolved according to mutual consensus. During the meeting, Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League(N) decided that the issue of canals would be put before the Council of Common Interests (CCI), he added.
In the CCI meeting, the decisions of Pakistan People’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the federal government regarding canals would be endorsed, he remarked.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto thanked the prime minister for reaching decision about canals in view of the objections raised by the provinces.
He also welcomed the step to endorse decisions of this meeting at the CCI forum.
