PPP Chairman and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has called for evolving consensus on the issue of building new canals from River Indus as Sindh has serious concerns on the plan, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Talking to newsmen at the Parliament House on Tuesday, Bilawal Bhutto said some politicians were trying to play politics on the issue of water.
Asserting that water was the issue of life and death, Bilawal said the narrative that the PPP had done nothing for the resolution of the issue was a ‘white lie’.
He said the truth of the matter was that the PPP was the only party, which had always raised its voice on the issue. “Our Sindh chief minister and the provincial ministers all have raised their voices,” he added.
Hitting out at nationalist parties for criticizing the PPP for remaining silent on the issue, Bilawal said some politicians were doing all this for their political interests.
The PPP chairman pointed out that there was a risk that the water issue could weaken the Federation. “There is a need to resolve the issue amicably,” he said, adding, “This is because the people of Sindh have lots of reservations over carving out new canals from the River Indus.”
Bilawal informed that in his meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at an Iftar on Monday, he also discussed with him the complaints the PPP MPAs in Punjab had against the provincial government.
“President Asif Ali Zardari’s yesterday’s address to the parliament was a positive one,” he said, adding, “The president, in his address, talked about hope, not despair. He touched upon national issues.”
The president, the PPP chairman added, through his address, preached respect, not hatred, and unity, not division. “He made the government realize the gravity of the situation, arising out of carving out canals from the River Indus. But in a positive way.”
Bilawal said he had advised the prime minister to take concrete steps to restore peace in KP, because the provincial government, in his words, was least interested in discharging its functions. “There is a chaos from Bannu to Parachinar and Dera Ismael Khan to Peshawar.”
He went on to say that he had also discussed with PM Shehbaz the unrest in Balochistan.
He said he had always rejected the proposal of half-term as floated by the prime minister.