Sindh demands federal govt to convene CCI meeting on water issue

The Sindh government strongly opposed the federal government’s unilateral decisions on the water issue and reiterated demand for an immediate Council of Common Interest (CCI) meeting, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Sunday. 
In this regard, the spokesperson of the Sindh government, Sukhdev Hemnani, said that the Sindh government has written a letter to the federal government again demanding that a CCI meeting be convened immediately on the issue of a severe water shortage in the province and the controversial canals. 
Sukhdev Hemnani said that Sindh has been facing water shortages for more than 25 years. 
Sindh government spokesperson said in this situation, Sindh province cannot afford to dig any new canal from the Indus River, nor can there be any compromise on Sindh’s water issue. 
Sukhdev Hemnani said that the Sindh government had submitted a requisition to convene a CCI meeting last year as well, but unfortunately, Sindh’s demand was not acted upon by the federation.
The Sindh Chief Minister has been repeatedly approaching the federal government on this issue for the past year, a Sindh government spokesperson said.
He said the Sindh government is reiterating its stance that we will not allow any anti-Sindh move.
The Sindh government will not allow such a move to be completed under any circumstances, he added.
Sukhdev Hemanani said that despite repeated requests from Sindh, the CCI meeting was not convened, which is a violation of Article 154(3) of the Constitution by the federation under which it is mandatory to convene a CCI meeting every 90 days.
Sukhdev Hemanani assured that the Sindh government has been against new canals from the very beginning.
He said the Sindh Assembly has also passed a unanimous resolution in this regard.
The federal government's unilateral decisions on water will harm the federation and fuel division among the federal units, Sukhdev Hemanani said.
He said that the Sindh government once again demands that constitutional forums like CCI be used to protect the rights and interests of the provinces.
He further said that the federal government should convene a meeting of CCI as soon as possible and address the concerns of Sindh, and it should treat all provinces equally.