Sindh, May 21 One person died and several others were injured after police resorted to a baton charge and reportedly opened fire to disperse anti-canal demonstrators in Pakistan's Sindh province, local media reported.
The unrest erupted in the city of Moro, in Sindh's Naushahro Feroze district, where protesters, demonstrating against the construction of proposed canals over the Indus River, had blocked the motorway bypass road.
Police, attempting to restore traffic, prompted the use of force. As the situation escalated, reports of gunfire added to the chaos, according to local media.
Amid the crackdown, a planned roundtable conference by the Sindhi nationalist organisation Sindh Sabha was thwarted following a heavy deployment of security forces and road blockades near the Hyderabad Press Club, as reported by The Express Tribune.
Police detained several individuals, and multiple Sindh Sabha leaders were confined within the conference hall. The group later confirmed that a team of lawyers intervened and safely escorted their leaders out of the premises.
Sindh Sabha, which has long raised its voice against the enforced disappearances of Sindhi nationalist activists, had organised the conference under the theme "Let's Join Hands to Take Steps for the Survival of Our Natural Homeland Sindh."
The event was meant to gather various nationalist parties to strategise against the exploitation of Sindh's natural resources by the Sharif-led government.
Local media, Dawn, reported that over four dozen activists affiliated with the Sindh Sabha Party, led by Ashfaq Malik, had initiated the road blockade to protest against corporate farming and the construction of canals as part of the controversial Cholistan project.
The Cholistan irrigation project, inaugurated on February 15, has sparked widespread unrest in Sindh, where residents fear it will divert precious water resources from the Indus River to benefit agricultural lands in South Punjab.
In March, the Sindh Assembly passed a unanimous resolution opposing the initiative, echoing long-standing regional concerns.
In recent months, several political factions, including the ruling coalition's key partner PPP, have staged protests demanding the project's cancellation.
Public opposition has intensified following what many see as the federal government's disregard for Sindh's water rights.
The situation has been further complicated by the diplomatic fallout between India and Pakistan after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed by four heavily armed terrorists, two of whom were Pakistanis.
The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan-based terrorist organisation, Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the attack.
India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) as part of a broader response to Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism.
The Sharif government, under increasing pressure, announced last month that it would halt the canal construction until consensus was achieved through the Council of Common Interests.
However, the legal fraternity in Sindh has refused to end its sit-ins across the province, demanding a formal and permanent cancellation of the Cholistan project.
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