ISLAMABAD: The meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) concluded in Islamabad after discussing the matter of the much-contested six new canals on the Indus River.
The meeting was originally scheduled for May 2, but Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said earlier today that the federal government convened the meeting for today.
Chief of the Army Staff Gen Asim Munir and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz inaugurated the ambitious Cholistan project to irrigate South Punjab’s lands on February 15 amid public uproar and strong reservations in Sindh.
After months of protests from various fragments of society as well as opposition from Sindh, the federal government on April 23 announced it was halting the contentious project until a consensus on the issue could be reached in the CCI. The decision came amid uncertainty created by India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) last week.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the four provincial chief ministers attended today’s CCI meeting.The controversial canals project has been included for deliberation, according to a copy of the agenda seen by Dawn.com.
According to the document, the prime minister, who also serves as CCI chairman, formally approved the agenda for the council’s 52nd meeting, which includes reviewing the council’s annual reports from 2021 to 2024, discussing the rules of recruitment for the CCI secretariat and a review of Nepra’s annual reports from 2020 onwards.
The fifth item on the agenda, to be presented by the Sindh government, was “Construction of New Canals: Reference Prime Minister’s Public Statement dated April 25, 2025, and direction for convening the meeting of CCI as per Rule 5(1) of Rules of Procedure of CCI.”
The council’s membership includes the premier, the federal ministers for foreign affairs, defence and states and frontier regions, as well as the chief ministers of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson Husain Mansoor, Memon said a decision on the canals’ matter would be made in the CCI meeting.
“A decision will be made as per the discussion between [PPP Chairman] Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and the prime minister, and the issue of canals will end,” he said, referring to Friday’s meeting between the coalition allies.
The meeting earlier amid increasing concerns of traders and the business community as protests against the project have paralysed interprovincial traffic by blocking national highways in parts of Sindh.
