DVISER to the Prime Minister Rana Sanaullah`s phone calls to Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon regarding the planned construction of a new canal on the Indus to irrigate the desert in Cholistan should have come much earlier. The political challenge this contentious issue has created for the PPP in its bastion of rural Sindh, due to the PML-N`s refusal until now to discuss the planned canal, means that the party has little room to step back from its demand for the complete cancellation of the scheme without incurring significant political losses. The statement from Mr Memon`s office following Mr Sanaullah`s first call reaffirms the PPP`s position. Nevertheless, the federal government`s offer to resolve the concerns of the people of Sindh through dialogue is a welcome development. Both coalition partners should utilise the opportunity to discuss and evaluate the sensitive issue on its technical merits and in accordance with the procedures laid out in the Constitution. Had the PML-N leadership taken this step a few months earlier, the planned irrigation project might not have turned into another contentious `Kalabagh dam` moment.

It is hard to dismiss the concerns of the people of Sindh over the project as they fear the Green Pakistan Initiative`s plan to develop new canals for corporate farmers could leave their province without water. Being the lower riparian, Sindh has seen its delta shrink, dozens of villages disappear, and tens of thousands of people displaced due to increasing seawater intrusion. Punjab`s claim that the canal will be fed by either the floodwaters from the Indian-controlled Sutlej or its own share of the Indus system is not supported by data. Most hydrologists have either opposed the scheme or at least called for an extensive study of the proposal before its execution. But the Shehbaz Sharif government had ignored criticism of the canal, even refusing to convene the CCI, the highest constitutional forum to adjudicate interprovincial disputes, for a decision. The offer for a dialogue notwithstanding, the chances of the PML-N yielding to the PPP demand and scrapping the planned canal appear very slim, given the strong backing of the project by the powers that be. Nevertheless, that bridge may become easier to cross if the PML-N and PPP are able to take a joint stand backed by a scientific study on the technical feasibility of the canal.