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Flownomics: Sindh’s Fight for the Indus

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Amna Zara, Sameen Nadeem & M. Adeed Mahar
March 23, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Good afternoon,

Welcome to a special Biscuitt edition, featuring a friend of Biscuitt and guest contributor from Sindh, Adeed Mahar, who breaks down recent protests over the Indus River Canal Project.

☕ Grab your chaye (or don’t), let's go.

What’s happening?

The federal government’s “Green Pakistan Initiative" has sparked protests across Sindh with political parties, Sindhi nationalists, civil society groups, and local farmers arguing that the project threatens the province’s already scarce water resources and will have devastating long-term consequences.

The plan is to cultivate 1.5 million acres of barren land and mechanize 50 million acres of existing farmland. Six new canals will be built to improve irrigation — two each in Sindh, Balochistan, and Punjab. Five will draw water from the Indus, while one on the Sutlej will irrigate Punjab’s Cholistan Desert.

Why is this controversial?

Sindh is heavily dependent on the Indus River for irrigation and already receives less water than required to sustain its agriculture. This project will exacerbate its water problems while crippling Sindh's irrigation system.

The $720 million Cholistan Canal which will (in theory) irrigate the arid Cholistan desert in Punjab will draw from Punjab’s allocated Indus water. This means diverting water upstream, reducing flows at the Sukkur Barrage, a lifeline for millions of acres of farmland.

The elephant in the room.

This project is a collaboration between the government and the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a powerful body led by the military to attract investment to Pakistan. Both parties aim to secure $6 billion from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain over the next three to five years to develop what all of this is actually about: corporate farming. 

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Jr, a vocal critic of the Green Pakistan Initiative, has claimed that the federal government is seizing land from farmers in Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan for large-scale irrigation projects that will prioritize cash crops for export to China and Saudi Arabia.

What is the Sindh government doing?

Sindh has fiercely challenged the plan to protect its water rights though many fear that the objections will be ignored, as decision-making power remains centralized at the federal and military levels.

In November 2023, Sindh CM Syed Murad Ali Shah strongly opposed the project, arguing that the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has no authority to approve it under the 1991 Water Accord and that it endangers Sindh's already scarce water supply. 

The issue has been presented to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) twice, in 2023 and 2024, but a decision is still pending. 

Just last week, the Sindh Assembly erupted in heated debate, ultimately passing a resolution demanding an immediate halt to the project. CM Murad called for inter-provincial talks, warning, "Sindh’s people have a rightful claim over these rivers."

Anti-people and anti-environment. 

Environmentalists and local communities alike are sounding the alarm: the canal project isn’t just a policy misstep, it is a threat to people and nature. The Indus Delta, once a thriving ecosystem of mangroves, fisheries, and fertile soil, is already gasping for survival due to drastically reduced freshwater flow. Seawater is slowly swallowing once-productive land, turning villages into ghost towns and forcing families to migrate inland.

These new canals, by further diverting upstream water, could push the delta past the point of no return. Experts warn of intensified sea intrusion, irreversible loss of biodiversity, and the collapse of local fishing and farming economies. For coastal communities in Thatha and Badin, this isn't just about environmental damage — it is about losing their homes, their heritage, and their future.

At its heart, critics say this project is both anti-people and anti-environment. It benefits powerful interests while placing the burden on those already living on the margins.

[Manesh Kumar/Al Jazeera]

Guest Contributors Note

For the people of Sindh, the Indus—lovingly called Sindhu—is not just a river, it is part of who we are. It lives in our poetry, in our songs, and in our stories. It’s not just water; it’s memory, culture, and life. Generations have grown up on its banks, depending on it for their fields, their food, and their future. Messing with the sindhu feels like messing with our identity.

But for years, its flow has been slowly reduced. Too many dams, canals, and barrages have taken too much, and left too little for Sindh. The new canals are just more of the same. They’re not even for Punjab’s small farmers—they’re meant for big corporate farming under government and military-backed projects. And once again, Sindh is being asked to sacrifice.

People here feel ignored. Decisions are being made without Sindh at the table. Many see this as yet another example of how one province’s needs are always put first. It’s not just about water—it’s about fairness, about being seen, and about being heard. If the federation keeps turning a blind eye to these feelings, it will only deepen the divides that already exist.

Sources and Further Reading:  

  • The Green Pakistan Initiative: website

  • Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC): website

  • The Indus River System Authority (IRSA): website

  • Why Sindh’s farmers are up in arms over the Cholistan canal project: link

  • Swallowed by the sea, Pakistan’s Indus Delta now threatened by canals: link

  • Water experts, farmers voice opposition to corporate farming projects, ‘strategic’ canals: link

  • Ruling parties, opposition in Sindh join hands to reject six-canal plan: link

  • Sindh Assembly passes unanimous resolution against six-canals project: link

  • PPP holds rally in Larkana against new canals, offers opposition ‘joint campaign’: link