The anticipated development came about on Tuesday evening in consequence of the Council of Common Interests’ (CCI) declaration of mothballing the controversial irrigation project and after a meeting with Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar in Sukkur.
“In view of the positive government response and the prevailing tense situation [on the border], our action committee has decided to end the Babarloi protest,” announced advocate Amir Nawaz Warraich, the president of the Karachi Bar Association.
He was flanked by Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) President Barrister Sarfaraz Ali Metlo and other lawyers at the camp. Warraich acknowledged that only one of their two demandsthe dropping of the canals projecthad been accepted, and that they had given a specific time to the Sindh government to come clear on the farming plan.
According to him, the home minister had claimed that the blame on the PPP’s provincial government for allotting 14,000 acres of land for corporate farming was unfounded.
Lanjar has promised to share the relevant revenue record with the lawyers’ action committee by May 6 or 7. Warraich said the committee would review all the documents and hold its meeting on May 13 following which they expect to sort this problem out with the government.
“Our biggest demand concerned the six canals which the federal government has accepted by closing the project,” the KBA’s president claimed.
“Our second issue was about corporate farming,” he said. He maintained that the lawyers bluntly told the provincial minister that they wanted the government to cancel the farming plan as well.
Warraich said they had also asked the Sindh government to withdraw all the First Information Reports (FIRs) registered against the lawyers and other protesters who had taken part in their demonstrations. The Sindh police, meanwhile, have also been told to recover the objects and vehicles stolen during the sit-ins.
“Our stance against corporate farming is firm,” SHCBA President Metlo said. “We won’t let this project be executed in Sindh.” He added that the lawyers wanted to see the province’s land distributed among small farmers and peasants who owned 25 acres or less agricultural land.
He acknowledged that the stand-off with the neighbouring country was also a problem and said the sons and daughters of Sindh would never tolerate the fact that a country for whose freedom their forefathers had struggled and given sacrifices for faced such threats.
On Tuesday morning, the lawyers action committee announced that all the sit-in protests on the National, Indus and Mehran highways were being ended except their central sit-in at Babarloi.
They said a meeting with Lanjar was scheduled in the afternoon in Sukkur after which the legal fraternity would decide about quitting or continuing the Babarloi protest.
Later, a delegation led by advocates Ayaz Hussain Tunio and Qurban Malano met Lanjar in Sukkur.
At a press conference, the home minister defended the CCI’s decision, refuting the critics who argue that the declaration suggested postponement and not cancellation of the canal project. “They should know that without the CCI’s approval no project can go ahead,” he said.
He urged the lawyers to end the sit-in and assured them that the government would clarify its position with regard to the farming. Lanjar said he was hopeful that the lawyers would consider his request.
The minister also defended the PPP and said the ruling party in SIndh and its leadership were being unjustifiably criticized for tacitly supporting the canals.