ISLAMABAD  -  Intellectuals, journalists, lawyers, poets, water experts, farmers, labourers, and students from across Pakistan have voiced their opposition to corporate farming projects, newly-constructed ‘strategic’ canals from the Indus River and its tributaries, and amendments to the IRSA Act. 

A conference hosted by Awami Tahreek here Saturday brought together intellectuals, journalists, lawyers, poets, water experts, farmers, labourers, and students from across Pakistan to voice their opposition to corporate farming projects, newly constructed strategic canals, and amendments to the IRSA Act. The participants condemned these initiatives, describing them as a conspiracy against the existence of Pakistan. The participants raised grave concerns about the allocation of vast tracts of agricultural land to foreign corporations and military companies under the guise of corporate farming. The government plans to acquire 4.8 million acres of land across the country, including 1.3 million acres each from Sindh and Punjab’s Seraiki region, 1.2 million acres from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and 1 million acres from Balochistan.  

According to a press release, speakers highlighted that 52,713 acres of land in Sindh have already been handed over to the military-affiliated Green Pakistan Initiative Private Limited. In Umerkot district alone, an additional 14,000 acres have been allocated to the same company. Similarly, over 45,000 acres in Bhakkar, Khushab, and Sahiwal have been transferred to Green Pakistan Initiative. The conference expressed outrage over plans to develop six strategic canals from the Indus River and its tributaries to irrigate 6.6 million acres of land in Cholistan under the Greater and Smaller Cholistan Schemes. 

The government has also announced the construction of three small dams and the expansion of three existing canals to support this scheme.  

Participants also criticised recent amendments to the IRSA Act, which have undermined the constitutional role of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) in managing water resources as outlined in Articles 154 and 155 of the 1973 Constitution. The amendments place IRSA directly under the Prime Minister’s authority, allowing the appointment of a chairperson loyal to the government, thereby marginalizing smaller provinces, according to the press release.

The conference also criticised Asif Ali Zardari and Shahbaz Sharif for ‘violating’ constitutional provisions to appease the establishment by approving strategic canals under the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC). These measures, it was argued, amount to economic and environmental genocide for Sindh and other marginalized regions.  

The Indus Delta, once the fifth-largest delta in the world and a designated Ramsar Site, is on the verge of collapse due to the lack of freshwater releases. The 1991 Water Accord mandated a flow of 1 million acre-feet downstream of Kotri Barrage for the preservation of the delta. However, 92% of the delta has already succumbed to seawater intrusion, causing agricultural devastation, declining fisheries, the destruction of mangrove forests, and salinization of groundwater. The annual economic loss from this ecological degradation is estimated at over $2 billion.  

The conference lamented that despite Sindh’s repeated calls to save its fertile lands in Badin, Sujawal, and Thatta, successive governments have ignored the crisis, treating the delta as if it were not part of Pakistan. Participants warned that strategic canals would leave Sindh barren and trigger catastrophic environmental challenges for the entire country and beyond.  

The participants of the conference demanded immediate abolition of the unconstitutional and illegal Special Investment Facilitation Council; an end to the corporate farming projects and the allocation of land to foreign multinational corporations and military companies. “Instead, these lands should be distributed among landless farmers to spark genuine agricultural and economic growth.” The conference also sought reversal of ‘unconstitutional’ amendments to the IRSA Act and immediate cancellation of the construction of new strategic canals.   

The conference concluded that Pakistan’s current crisis is the result of decades of mismanagement by a narrow, self-serving elite. It called on the country’s conscious citizens to unite for a sustainable, equitable, and prosperous future.