Days after India unilaterally suspended the long-standing Indus Water Treaty (IWT) and threatened Pakistan with war, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has warned India against interrupting the country’s water supply, saying that Indus “is ours and will remain ours”.
“Baharat has attacked Sindhu [Indus]. We have condemned the terrorist attack in held Kashmir…. but Modi has made false allegations against Pakistan,” Bilawal said while addressing a public gathering in Sukkur.
“Standing beside the Sindhu River, I want to say to Baharat that the Indus is ours and will remain ours… either our water will flow through it or their blood,” the PPP chief thundered.
Bilawal said the struggle to protect the river would continue till India withdrew its decision, adding that the PPP stood with Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on the issue.
Emphasising that existence of people of Pakistan was linked to the Indus, he said the people have had the river for thousands of years. “We are the heirs of this river, and we will protect it,” the PPP chief said and added that every Pakistani would become an ambassador of the Indus and protect it.
On the canals issue, the chairman PPP congratulated the people, saying that it was the success of their peaceful struggle that the federal government had decided that no canals would be made without consensus in the Council of Common Interests (CCI).
He noted that the CCI included representatives from both the federal government and all provinces, and before this agreement, decisions about building new canals could have been approved by majority vote, even without public consent.
“But we are grateful to PM Shehbaz Sharif, who listened to your concerns, and now the majority parties in the council have agreed that no new canals will be constructed without your consent,” Bilawal said.
Bilawal concluded by announcing that PPP will hold a grand public gathering in Mirpurkhas on May 1.
