The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that officers of the law enforcement agencies abducted a young activist who was tortured to death in illegal detention. After the incident officers of these agencies threw the tortured and bullet riddled death body near the Bharia Road City Railway Station of District Naushero Feroz of Sindh Province. They also scattered some weapons near his dead body to give the appearance that his death was due to an encounter as well as to make him look like a terrorist.
The agencies officers then started intimidating the victim’s brothers not to reveal the incident and were also warned not to register a case against them. They were told that many false cases would be registered against them.
CASE NARRATIVE: Mr. Sahib Khan Ghoto (40), a resident of village Jalal Ghoto, Taluka and District Ghotki, Province Sindh was tortured to death in the custody of law enforcement agencies during his illegal detention of three days. (warning to the reader: the photo of the deceased victim is graphic and may not be suitable for all viewers: http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/images/2014/ahrc-uac-021-2014.01). Sahib Khan, son of Mr. Dhani Bux was a political activist, nationalist and central member of the Executive Committee of Shehri Etihad (Citizens Unity) Ghotki. Shehri Etihad is a organization working in Ghotki for the people and in this organization all Non- Governmental Organizations, political parties and the civil societies of the Ghotki District are collectively working together.He was also the president of Jiye Sindh MutthahidaMahaz (JSSM) a nationalist party,Ghotki District.
SUKKUR: At a time when forced conversions are happening all-too frequently, hundreds of political and social activists in Ghotki expressed their solidarity with Hindus by organising a rally on Sunday.
Led by the chairman of the Sindh National Movement, Ali Hassan Chandio, and chief of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, Dr Niaz Kalani, hundreds of people carrying placards and banners marched through the main streets of Ghotki. They shouted slogans against the establishment, sardars and waderas. The protesters made their way to Main Chowk, where a two-hour sit-in was staged.
Chandio vociferously condemned atrocities against Hindus and placed the blame squarely on the influential people of Sindh. “The kidnapping of Hindus is on the rise because the general elections are just around the corner and sardars as well as waderas need money to run their campaigns,” he alleged. Chandio also voiced his anger at the kidnapping and forced conversions of Hindu girls. According to him, such incidents are part of a conspiracy to make Hindus flee from Pakistan.
“The establishment was scared of the brave sons of this soil, including Bashir Khan Qureshi and Muzaffar Bhutto. That is why they eliminated these people,” added Chandio. He contended that Sindh is producing natural gas which is mostly consumed by Punjab. “The industries of Punjab will come to a grinding halt if we stop the gas supply from Sindh,” he said. “Sindhis constitute a brave nation and nobody will stop them when they unite.” He cited the shelving of the Kalabagh dam project as an example of the power wielded by Sindhis when they came together.
“We are all Sindhis regardless of our caste or religion,” Dr Niaz Kalani told the protesters. “Ghotki is blessed with natural resources and there are many multinational companies here. It is sad that Sindhis are denied jobs in these organisations, but all others are more than welcome,” he said. Dr Kalani urged Sindhis to join hands and struggle for their rights.
The president of the Sindh Hari Committee, Mandhal Shar, expressed his anxiety over the deteriorating law and order situation in Sindh. “The police themselves are kidnapping Sindhis, especially Hindus, for ransom,” he said. “The province is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, but its people are leading miserable life. They are being treated like strangers in Karachi and denied jobs in Thar, which is enriched with coal.”
By Hasan Mujtaba (btw, notice that communists and socialists in both India and Pakistan have been more consistent than most in fighting such evils, sometimes at great personal risk)
( I wrote this story about forced conversion of Hindu women in Pakistan of 1994. So far forced conversion of Hindu women nothing has been changed. Even the modus operandi of forced conversions and its operaters remain as the same)…… …… ……… …….
On January 19, a Hindu girl named Daya Bai disappeared from her house in Daharki, district Ghotki (Sindh, Pakistan). She surfaced ten days later outside the deputy commissioner’s office, wearing bridal clothes,and accompanied by several hundred strong gathering (MANY OF WHOM WERE ARMED WITH AUTOMATIC WEAPONS) led by pirs of Bharchundi chanting Allaho – Akbar. During the nikah (wedding) that followed, Daya Bai’s mother wept inconsolably, repeatedly striking her head on the floor in anguish,”let me meet my daughter even if she is getting married’ she implored but her pleas fell on deaf ears.
For the Hindu community in Sukkur and Larkano, Daya Bai’s disappearance, conversion to Islam and subsequent marriage with a Muslim in suspicious circumstances is not unpresedented occurance. Between January and February at least 3 Hindu girls, Daya Bai from Daharki, Shakuntala from Pano Aquil, and Bhagawanti, the daughter of a Larkano professor were allegedly kidnapped from from their homes at the gunpoint. Of the three, Daya Bai and Bahgawanti converted to Islam and married muslim men whereas Shakunatala’s whereabouts are not known. Shakuntala, allegedly kidnapped from her home by a man named Kalhoro, she embraced Islam and married to someone other than her abductor. Speculation abounds that she may have been sold. The story of the daughter of Koro Mal, Hindu trader from Larkana, is similar. THERE ARE SEVERAL SUCH INSTANCES IN WHICH GIRLS BELIEVED TO HAVE ELOPED WITH THEIR MUSLIM LOVERS ARE NOT MARRIED TO THEM BUT WERE EITHER MARRIED OFF TO SOMEONE ELSE OR KILLED.
The increasing incidents of forcible conversions and marriages of Hindu girls have compelled some Hindus to migrate to India to protect their daughters and family honor. ‘The parents of girls who have met this fate are like the living dead’ says Ghanshyam Das a social worker in Kashmore.
Similarly, as Mukhi Nihalchand, a Hindu community leader in Rohri points out forcible conversion of Hindu men continues unreported and unabated. The conversion at Bharchundi of a Hindu boy from a wealthy Umerkot family sometime back is a case in point. After a while, the boy reconverted to Hinduism and migrated to India with his family.
The Sindh High Court Chief Justice, Mushir Alam, has ordered by March 12, the production of 19-year-old Rinkle Kumari, a girl kidnapped from Mirpur Mathelo in Sindh’s Ghotki district. She is said to have been subsequently forcibly converted to Islam and married off to a Muslim man — or that’s the version of her family members. The judge was outraged by the event and pledged that law would no longer tolerate such crimes.
KARACHI: Preetam Das is a good doctor with a hospital job and a thriving private clinic, yet all he thinks about is leaving Pakistan, terrified about a rise in killings and kidnappings targeting Hindus.
A successful professional, he lives in mega city Karachi with his wife and two children, but comes from Kashmore, a district in the north of Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh.
His family has lived there for centuries and in 1947 when the sub-continent split between India, a majority Hindu state, and Pakistan, a homeland for Muslims, Das’ grandparents chose to stay with the Muslims.
They fervently believed the promise of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah that religious minorities would be protected. Sixty years later, their grandson says life in Kashmore has become unbearable. “The situation is getting worse every day,” he says.
Two of his uncles have been kidnapped and affluent Hindus are at particular risk from abduction gangs looking for ransom, he says.
Rights activists say the climate is indicative of progressive Islamisation over the last 30 years that has fuelled an increasing lack of tolerance to religious minorities, too often considered second class citizens.
Das says the only thing keeping him in Pakistan is his mother. “She has flatly refused to migrate, which hinders my plans. I can’t go without her,” he said.
Hindus make up 2.5 per cent of the 174 million people living in the nuclear-armed Muslim nation. Over 90 per cent live in Sindh, where they are generally wealthy and enterprising, making them easy prey for criminal gangs.
An official at the ministry of external affairs in New Delhi who declined to be named said: “Every month about eight to 10 Hindu families migrate from Pakistan. Most of them are well-off.”
He had no comment on whether the number was on the rise, but Hindu community groups in Pakistan say more people are leaving because of kidnappings, killings and even forced conversions of girls to Islam.
“Two of my brothers have migrated to India and an uncle to the UAE,” said Jay Ram, a farmer in Sindh’s northern district of Ghotki.
“It’s becoming too difficult to live here. Sindhis are the most tolerant community in the country vis-a-vis religious harmony, but deteriorating law and order is forcing them to move unwillingly,” he added.
Rinkal Kumari, a Hindu Girl, from Mirpur Mathelo Sindh Pakistan, was kidnapped on 23rd February 2012 while she was returning home from her college. After being kidnapped, she was taken to Bharchundi Shareef (a small village near Mirpur Mathelo, Sindh, Pakistan) and was put under the custody of Feudal named Mian Mithoo (Member of Assembly). The victim, Rinkal, was harrowed by Mian Mithoo to forcefully convert to Islam and then get married with Naveed Shah, a resident of the same area. Under defenseless circumstances along with physical abuse, Rinkal married Naveed Shah. Disturbed and agonized by the situation, Mr. Raj Kumar (Rinkal’s Uncle) and Rinkal’s family approached the local law enforcement to seek justice but to no avail. The Policemen, negatively influenced by Mian Mithoo, denied the rights of Rinkal’s family to lodge a complaint.After 5 hours of struggle, pleading and literal beseech, the Police finally accepted a written complaint from Rinkal’s family and issued a First Information Report (F.I.R) saying that the case will be presented at 10 am 24th February 2012 in Ghotki Local Court.
Plan Changed and the victim was taken to a different court in Mirpur Mathelo and hearing was rescheduled to 9:00am from 10:00am. These location and time changes were influenced by Mian Mithoo and Rinkal family were not informed about this change. However, knowing this information from an unknown source, Rinkal’s family reached that place early but they were blocked from entering the court premises by private gunmen (hired by Mian Mithoo) with heavy artillery as seen in the pictures and video clips on different Tv channels. In the video clip below Ayaz Latif Palijo Protesting against forced Religion conversion The language of the Bolta Pakistan program is urdu (Hindi).
Hindu protesters demand justice for 17-year-old girl, who they believe was forcefully converted to Islam, Blame PPP MNA Mian Abdul Haq alias Mian Mitho for her ‘abduction’
KARACHI – A sizable crowd of Hindu protesters gathered outside the Karachi Press Club on Sunday, demanding justice for a 17-year-old Hindu girl from Mirpur Mathelo in Ghotki district, Rinkle Kumari, who was allegedly abducted forcefully converted to Islam and renamed Faryal.
The relatives of the girl, who were among the protesters, blame one man for her alleged predicament – Pakistan People’s Party MNA Mian Abdul Haq alias Mian Mitho, who is also the spiritual leader of Bharchundi Sharif in Daharki.
The girl’s relatives claimed that the girl fell in love with her neighbour Naveed Shah, whose friend Hussam Kalwar is a supporter of the MNA.
Kalwar, a criminal, has been arrested several times but always manages to get released due to his ties to the influential MNA.
Giving details about the night when Kumari was “abducted”, her uncle, Daya Ram, said in the early hours of February 24 this year, Kumari was supposed to meet Naveed Shah, believing that he would be alone. But Shah was not alone and accompanied by armed men, who abducted her and took her to Bharchundi Sharif, where she was forcefully converted to Islam.
“She did not leave home out of free will. If she had, why was one of her shoes at the home’s entrance and her dupatta outside? She was kidnapped by armed men, who barged into the home,” Ram told Pakistan Today.
He further said on the morning of February 24, he reached the Mirpur Mathelo police station and had an FIR registered against Naveed Shah.
On the same day at 1 pm, Kumari’s family received a phone call from MNA Haq’s son Mian Aslam Shah, who told them that if they wish to meet the girl, they should come to his residence.
However, Ram claimed, the family told him that they do not wish to meet her at his residence and would instead want her brought to the DSP’s office or the Hindu Panchayat Hall, where she can talk with them freely. However, both these options were rejected.
Ram said the next day, Kumari’s family was told that they can meet the girl at the Ghotki DSP’s office, but they would have to come along with Jeay Sindh Mahaz Chairman Riaz Chandio.
When Chandio and the girl’s family entered the office of the DSP, they saw that Mian Shaman, the brother of the PPP MNA, was seated on the chair of the DSP. The family again refused to talk with the girl in Shaman’s presence and was again given an option that they can meet her in the presence of Naveed Shah. The family did not accept the offer and went to the Ghotki civil judge.
The first time Kumari met her family after the “abduction” was in the court. She told her family in the presence of counsels from both sides that she was kidnapped. “Some people entered our home and kidnapped me. I did not want to leave with Naveed Shah,” Kumari’s uncle quoted her as saying.
At that moment, Ram said, Naveed Shah fainted and the judge, instead of letting the recording of her statement complete, remanded Kumari to police custody for two days.
“At the Sukkur police station, a policewoman handed her a cell phone on which she was threatened that if she did not change her statement, she and her relatives will be killed and the property of all Hindus in the area will be demolished,” Ram claimed.
“When Rinkle was brought to the court again, she was confused and upset and asked us to forgive her and allow her to sacrifice herself for our sake,” he added.
He said on February 26, President Asif Ali Zardari took notice of the incident and police again “kidnapped” Kumari and at 2 pm, she was shifted to Mirpur Mathelo from Sukkur.
On February 27, the day when Kumari had to appear in the court again, all routes to the court were blocked, but not for the “fanatic” followers of the MNA.
“If Rinkle was acting out of her own will, then why was she surrounded by armed men at the court?” Daya Rama questioned.
During the second hearing, Kumari gave a statement in favour of Naveed Shah and the court ordered her to be given into his custody.
In response to the family’s allegations, MNA Haq’s son Mian Aslam Shah has claimed that the couple had come to him seeking help and the girl wanted to convert to Islam so she could marry Shah.
MPA Petamber Sehwani, during the Sindh Assembly session on February 29, said Hindus’ daughters are being kidnapped and boys killed. “They are being forced to leave Sindh. But I want to make it clear that the Hindus of Sindh will not leave their motherland. Do not push us to the wall,” he said.
The pirs or spiritual leaders of Bharchundi Sharif have a history of religious extremism. On November 2, 1939, a famous Hindu Sufi singer Bhagat Kanwar Ram was killed in a train while travelling to Sukkur. The FIR of the murder was registered against MNA Haq’s father, Mian Abdul Rahim and his two followers.
KARACHI, March 4: An alliance of minority parties on Sunday appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to take a suo motu notice of the kidnapping of a Hindu girl and order her immediate return to her parents to restore the waning sense of security in the minorities.
Speaking at a protest demonstration staged outside the Karachi Press Club, Pakistan Minority Leaders Alliance representatives said they would launch a protest movement and stage a sit-in on March 10 if the authorities failed to recover the girl, Rinkle Kumari.
According to an uncle of the girl, Raj Kumar, she was kidnapped from her house in Mirpur Mathelo over a week ago and forced to marry Naveed Shah and change her religion. He alleged that the case was heard by a civil judge in Ghotki, but he did not allow her relatives to enter the courtroom while giving a verdict in favour of the ‘kidnapper’, Mr Shah.
Speaking on the occasion, Jeay Sindh Mahaz chief Riaz Chandio expressed solidarity with the minority community members and demanded arrest of and punishment to culprits involved in her kidnapping.
He said those belonging to religious minority groups, including Hindus, Christians and Sikhs, were sons of the soil. They should not feel threatened by such acts, as all Sindhis were one and that they were equal citizens and had equal rights, he said.
He said it was unfortunate that the girl was given in police custody instead of being sent to Darul Aman.
Mr Chandio announced that if “the daughter of Sindh” was not rescued and returned and culprits were not arrested soon and punished according to law, a province-wide sit-it would be staged on Saturday.
Manohar Lal, Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmaker in the national assembly, condemned the kidnapping and forced conversion of a young girl. He urged the president to take notice of the incident.
He said Islam guaranteed protection to minorities, but such people were giving a bad name to the religion. With such incidents, a sense of insecurity was growing in the community, he said. Earlier their sons were kidnapped for ransom, but now their daughters were being kidnapped and forcibly converted, he remarked.
Jeay Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party leader Gulzar Soomro said that forced conversions were a conspiracy against Islam, which preaches love and peace and opposes use of force. He said the culprits were agents of the establishment that wanted to divide the Sindhis.
“Our patience should not be mistaken as our weakness,” he warned, seeking her immediate recovery.
A Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader and former lawmaker, Michael Javed, said the Quaid-i-Azam had said that the minorities would be equal citizens in Pakistan, but over the years the Quaid’s message was being forgotten.
Amar Lal, a community leader, said he and the girl’s uncle had met US consulate general staff a few days back and political counsellor Junaid J. Muneer had assured him that the issue would be taken up with the authorities concerned. He said he had also received a call from a former political counsellor of the US embassy in Islamabad, L.K. Robinson, who was currently in Washington. He told him that he would take up the issue with human rights organisations there.
Mahesh Singh, Mangla Sharma, Ramesh Kumar, Vijay Kumar and others also spoke.
Raj Kumar, the girl’s uncle, earlier informed the gathering that on Feb 24, a few armed men barged into her home in Mirpur Mathelo and kidnapped her at gunpoint.
He said a case was filed in a Ghotki court where he said she gave a statement about the threats she had received to convert and marry Naveed Shah or she and her entire family would be killed. He quoted her as saying in the court that she wanted to return and live with her parents.
He also alleged that the judge, in the presence of gunmen in the court, sent her to police custody rather than to her parents’ home or to a shelter home. The next hearing was scheduled to be held at 11am on Feb 27, but the case was heard at 8.15am and the girl’s family was not allowed to enter the courtroom, he said, adding that the judge then gave a verdict in favour of Mr Shah.
Mr Kumar urged the chief justice to take a suo motu notice of the issue and order her safe return to her parents.
Earlier, the participants in the demonstration chanted slogans such as ‘we want justice’ and ‘Rinkle be rescued’.
KARACHI/HYDERABAD: Lengths of railway track were blown up in Bin Qasim, Nawabshah, Hyderabad, and Pud Eidan, Khairpur and Ghotki somewhere before and after dawn stopping the up and down traffic, Geo News reported Saturday.
According to police, two blasts were heard before they found out a sizable part of the main track, going through Long Khan Kairio village area of Nawabshah, has been damaged.
Later, a couple of similar blasts were also reported from Qasimabad area of Hyderabad, where 1-2 feet long rail tracks came off in the wake of explosions. To boot, blasts near Latifabad area also reportedly damaged the rails taking the tally to four in Hyderabad alone that too within hours.
Moreover, culprits, also targeted rails near Pud Eaidan area using the same modus operandi i.e. two IEDs planted close by detonating one after another.
Reports of a similar sabotage also came from Kotri, Ghotki and Bin Qasim.
All the up and down trains have been stopped to safety. Railway sources told that Zakaria and Fareed Express were stopped at Sadiqabad.
Fortunately no passenger/cargo train was anywhere near the blast sites, otherwise major casualties could have been the outcome of these perpetrations.
Police have condoned off the site to launch an investigation as well as search for probable explosive devices or the culprits hiding nearby.
There is an item titled “Shah Mehmood Qureshi Jaa Kujh Anokha Taarikhi Hawala” “شاهه محمود قريشي جا ڪجهه انوکا تاريخي حوالا” written by Farooq Bijarani from Tagwani, Kandhkot, published in Sindhi daily newspaper and posted on Sindhi e-lists/ e-groups, if true then would be an alarming development. That article quotes a statement by the Vice Chairman of Tehreek-e-Insaf Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi as saying at a public gathering in Ghotki that he is like Mahmood Ghaznavi, who is on mission to break the Somnath Mandar in Sindh. Those familiar with the history of Sindh know the historical account of cruelties that Mahmood Ghaznavi bestowed on Sindh on his way back to his home country after destroying the Somnath Mandar in Gujrat. He slaughtered many Sindhis and burned the capital city of Sindh.
Makhdoom sahib also said that there now lives a Pharaoh in Sindh (probably referring to his old mentor President Asif Zardari) and that he is coming to free the people of Sindh from his slavery. The article asks: Are we Sindhis so gullible or helpless that we need some one from Multan or Mianwalli to free us from the slavery of a Pharaoh? Replying this question, the author says “We Sindhis are neither slaves nor sleeping that we would allow a Pharaoh to rule us.
I agree with the author that every one has the right to present their views but they should think before they open their lips. They should be aware of the true history before comparing themselves to historical figures.
Courtesy: Sindhi e-lists/ e-groups, December 14, 2011.
Pak atomic program not safe in Zardari presence: Qureshi
GHOTKI: Former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Sunday alleged that Pakistan’s atomic program was not safe as long as Asif Ali Zardari was the President of the country.
Addressing a large public gathering here, Qureshi said: “Pakistan’s atomic program was not safe in the presence of Zardari …. I would make more disclosures on the threat posed by Zardari to the atomic program at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s rally in Karachi (on Dec 25).”
Earlier, Shah Mehmood Qureshi formally announced joining Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in the presence of its Chairman Imran Khan.
He claimed that government’s rhetoric of reconciliation is nothing but a programme to save their term, calling it a ‘kursi bachao program’.
Qureshi regretted that the successors of Benazir Bhutto buried her legacy and vision. ….
A broader meeting of political parties and civil society activists from across Sindh held in Hyderabad, which after a detailed discussion over the peace and interfaith harmony and tolerance issues in Sindh as well as in the country took following consensus decisions:
– Formed Movement for Peace & Tolerance (Aman Rawadari Tahreek) initially by 51 representatives of political parties and civil society activists, which selected 15 members Coordination Committee.
– The proposal of Peace Long March was approved by the participants, however, it was consensually agreed that civil society and political parties activists from Punjab and Islamabad should be taken in the loop; and if they support in facilitation and organization of the initiative in the Punjab and Islamabad, it should be carried from Karachi to Islamabad, otherwise the march should be carried from Karachi to the shrines of Sachal Sarmast in Khairpur district or Bhagat Kanwar Ram in Ghotki district.
– District level rallies, marches and Seminars / Jalsas should be organized in Sindh, – Meetings should be organized in Sukkur and Karachi for above proposals, – Meetings should be held with political parties, trade unions, students, intellectuals and academia.
U.S. provides additional flood assistance in Sindh
ISLAMABAD (Sept. 2, 2010) – The U.S. is providing nearly $2 million to a local partner to address the emergency needs of flood-displaced residents in Ghotki, Khairpur, and Thatta districts in Sindh. …
Karachi, Apr. 25: Sindh-WAPDA dispute on the construction of Reni Canal in Guddu Barrage Canal Command area particularly relating to the extension of divide wall near the head regulator of Ghotki Canal, could not be resolved despite a series of the joint meetings between the high officials of WAPDA and Sindh Government held last week.
As the result, ultimately the work on the construction of the extension of existing divide wall has been stopped and till the filing of this report there was complete stalemate with regard to the fate of the project itself.
Meanwhile, the growers of Ghotki Feeder are reported to be agitating against the construction of the proposed divide wall as according to their apprehensions, with the construction of the said divide wall the water supply to Ghotki Feeder from Guddu Barrage would be affected miserably causing serious water shortage for lakhs of acres irrigated on the water supplied from Ghotki Feeder.
According to the details, no doubt the feasibility of Reni Canal was prepared by Sindh Government in 1988. But, afterwards, on coming to the conclusion that there was no enough water available in Indus for operating new reservoirs or new canals, Sindh Government virtually lost interest in this project. This project aimed at irrigating about 412400 acres of land of desert area of Ghotki, Sukkur, and Khairpur districts.
In the meantime, during Pervaiz Musharaf rule, at a high level meeting held in Lahore under the chairmanship of the then Chief Executive Gen. Pervaiz Musharaf, Water Vision was approved which also included Reni Canal project from Sindh.
It is said that Sindh Government was not consulted while including this scheme in the said Water Vision. According to some circles, this scheme was included in the Vision by Federal Government/Wapda at its own to balance the proposal to construct controversial Greater Thal Canal – the scheme included the said water vision.
By the way, there is not only major contradiction between the stands of WAPDA and Sindh Government on the extension of Divide Wall but interestingly the independent irrigation experts have reservations on the place for the construction of Head Regulator of Reni Canal also. Their position is in contradiction with the position of WAPDA as well as that of Sindh Government.
According to experts, originally it was conceived that Reni Canal would be a flood canal but as per its present design, if constructed it would be operated as irrigation canal resultantly it is bound to affect miserably the operation of Ghotki Canal, the water drawing capacity of which is about 11000 cusecs and lakhs of acres are irrigated on this canal.
According to WAPDA documents, as per the recommendations of model study: (a) Head Regulator was to be located in the left guide bank instead of left marginal bund, (b) size of left pocket should be increased to 7 bays by constructing a new divide wall, and (c) Silt Excluder should be constructed perpendicular to the Barrage in front off Ghotki and Rainee Canal Head Regulators.
The WAPDA documents further state that on 17th January, 2005, Secretary, Irrigation & Power Department, Government of Sindh, conveyed concurrence for carrying out the works: (a) extension of existing left divide wall, (b) provision of silt excluder, and (c) River Training works to centralize river flow.
On the other hand, Secretary Irrigation, Sindh, Shuja Jenejo, while talking to FP, out rightly rejected the stand of WAPDA that:” he ever gave concurrence to extend the existing divide wall”. He said, the position taken by WAPDA was ridiculous as their said stand was based on the premise that Chief Engineer Guddu Barrage sent a letter to him (Secretary Irrigation) by which he gave concurrence to the extension to the existing divide wall. He said, firstly even he did not receive any such letter from the Chief Engineer. Moreover, he said that only Provincial Secretary but not a Chief Engineer is competent to give such concurrence.
According to Sindh’s Secretary irrigation, Sindh Government had agreed with the proposal to construct divide wall as was conceived in Nadipur study. He said, Sindh Government did never approve the extension of that divide wall. Besides, he contended that Sindh Government had proposed to construct the divide wall at 7th Span for 1200 ft. while WAPDA has constructed divide wall at 4th Span instead of 7th Span. He said, it was not acceptable to Sindh. He contended that if divide wall was extended then water supply through Ghotki Canal would be affected miserably.
Meanwhile, the independent irrigation experts have strong reservations on the construction of Reni Canal Herad Regulator in the main protective bund near the Head Regulator of Ghotki Canal. As against that, they said, originally it was conceived that the Head Regulator of Reni Canal would be constructed in the Marginal Bund at a distance from the Head Regulator of Ghotki Canal so that the supply through Ghotki Canal is not affected with the operation of Reni Canal.
In the meantime, recently a general body meeting of the chairmen of 62 Farmers Organisations of Ghotki was held in Ghotki, which, through a unanimous resolution, rejected the extension of existing divide wall near Ghotki Canal Head Regulator.
– G.N. Mughul is a senior Journalist of Sindh. He is currently working with English daily of Pakistan, The Frontier Post. He can be reached at gnmughul@yahoo.com
Courtesy: The Frontier Post
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