On Friday, police filed a First Information Report (FIR) and apprehended several individuals for obstructing First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari’s convoy at the Jamshoro toll plaza. According to the Jamshoro Senior Superintendent of Police, Aseefa Bhutto, the youngest daughter of President Asif Ali Zardari, was en route to Nawabshah in a convoy when they were halted near the Jamshoro toll plaza yesterday.
The police officer stated that a group of individuals was staging a demonstration against the contentious canals project, which the federal government had indefinitely postponed last month. The SSP added that agitated protesters also struck vehicles in the convoy with batons, though police personnel swiftly and safely cleared Aseefa Bhutto’s vehicle within a minute.
Following the PPP’s objection to the project, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed last month that no new canals would be constructed unless a consensus was achieved within the Council of Common Interests (CCI). This breakthrough occurred as both sides engaged in crucial talks amidst escalating political tensions and widespread public discontent in Sindh over the federal government’s “controversial” plan to divert water for six new canals from the Indus River.
On April 28, the CCI rejected the federal government’s proposal for the construction of new canals, thereby overturning the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council’s (ECNEC) decision made on February 7. Expressing satisfaction over the CCI’s decision, lawyers and some other political parties officially concluded their protests. However, a few nationalist parties continue their demonstrations against the already abandoned canal project.
