The Pakistan Mutthida Kissan Mahaz (PMKM) alleged that the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) had failed in judicious distribution of water and expressed its apprehension that the issue may lead to a severe conflict between the provinces if not resolved at the earliest.
PMKM Chief Ayub Khan Mayo while briefing the newsmen about the water situation in the country and reservations of different provinces, especially Sindh on water distribution by the IRSA, also claimed that the federation and the four federating units were also facing serious rifts on electricity distribution and load shedding.
Mayo said that Pakistan was facing severe water shortage and its arch enemy India was trying to take advantage of this situation and promote a war-like situation among the farmers of all the four provinces. He said that failure in the construction of new water reservoirs and hydel power projects was the main reason behind the prevailing situation.
He said the water accord of 1991 puts emphasis on the construction of new water reservoirs as a key recommendation while ECNEC had approved projects worth 12 million acre-feet since 2003. Hydel projects approved had a verified capacity of producing 140,000 MW of electricity and design of 40,000 MW projects had also been completed. The government spent billions of rupees on all these projects of concept designing, verification and other technical issues but unfortunately could not complete a single project of water storage or a project capable of producing even 100 MW of hydel power.
The PMKM Chief said they hold present rulers and politicians responsible for betraying the national interest and not going for creating more water reservoirs and hydel power projects which would ruin the industry and agriculture. He claimed that the Pakistani economy had come under a debt of US 70 billion dollars because of this water and power crisis.
He said that the Pakistan Mutthida Kissan Mahaz in collaboration with other farmers' organization would be protesting on the occasion of coming budget to press the government for not devising policies under US, IMF or World Bank pressure which had brought down the agriculture to brink of destruction. He also announced that they would be convening a meeting on May 22, 2017, which would be participated by farmers' organizations from across the country to discuss the water distribution issue, delay in construction of new reservoirs, not going for hydel power projects and anti-agriculture policies of the government and announced a joint line of action against it.