Pakistan Fisherfolk forum (PFF) has planned to celebrate the international Day of Action (14 March) for rivers “Rights of the Indus River” with 14-days long campaign named as of Rights of the River and personhood rights to Indus River and Indus delta. In this connection PFF decided to organized a series of the dialogues in the different district of Sindh during the Rights of the River Campaign. After these dialogue PFF, will held a Provincial Dialogue in Karachi in which PFF will raise issues collected from district level. In the provincial dialogue, impacted communities from all over the Sindh will participate and demand for the Rights of the River and legal personhood rights of Indus delta.
In the context of Pakistan and especially Sindh province, among the multiple water issues, drastic decrease of water (and of enriching silt) for the Indus Delta is an intolerable fact. Continuing with various plans of dams and diversions on Indus River by our national government as well as neighboring countries is a continuing assault on the ecology of the Indus Basin. We must recognize it as a threat of the highest order, even when producing hydropower is the justification.
A large water shares of the River Indus utilized for the agricultural and human consumption of Punjab Province. Resultantly, the lower end of the River Indus in Sindh, that used to be termed as the “Mighty River Indus”, has been reduced to the level of an irrigation canal.
Then man-built dams and barrages over the Indus River and caged it its water destroyed delta in addition to bringing other far-reaching socio-ecological consequences. Before the development of an irrigation system on the River Indus up until 1940, the entire flow passed through Sindh’s plains to the Arabian Sea, culminating into 17 branches called creeks and forming the seventh largest delta of the world. An annual flow of over 180 Million Acre feet (MAF) carrying a silt load of about 440 million tons passed through Indus to the Arabian Sea. This vast flood plain area followed the course of the River Indus, extending 5 to 160 KM on either side.
Indus Delta is also one the victims of man are such attitude towards nature and its constituent’s elements. There was time when the Indus Delta seemed like a masterpiece of the river. It was the most prosperous and a fertile region characterized by prosperity, agricultural productivity and soil fertility. Livestock mushroomed, agricultural production boomed, fruits farms were plentiful, fresh water gushed and a variety of fish species existed.
Such a massive destruction of the River Indus has led to the death of livelihood of the deltaic people. These people have depended on fishing and the River are compelled to cut wood for earning some money and buy drinking water with their earnings. What a pity it is see the people who are entitled to the basic right of water but are denied their rights.
The PFF believes that by the building dams and barrages, the government has diverted the natural flow of the River Indus, destroyed the rivers’ ecology, displaced the helpless people whose livelihood depended on the river, destroyed the bio-diversity of the Indus Delta in the name of national interest and sustainable development. The PFF strongly feels that there is dire need that the River Indus must be restored so that the River flow from start to tail end following the natural consistent flow and that the biodiversity and ecology of the River Indus, the people and their livelihood is restored.
What is solution? Pakistan Fisherfolk believes that unless we grant fundamental human rights to the Delta the way we have granted to citizens, the delta may not be restored. We must accord it fundamental rights to live, to survive and to “smile”. Realising and retaining rights will require legislation that empowers communities to protect rivers.
Our demand is not vague or a fantasy. It is based on the global precedents. New Zealand has granted the Wanganui River and Indian state Uttarakhand has given Ganga and its tributary Yamuna the same legal rights as a human being.
In this regard, we are celebrating International Rivers Day with the 14- day long campaign. So that we could raise the voice of Indus River on the concept of declaring the Indus as a living being with all fundamental human rights and protect her health.
Specific demands of this campaign are:
• The right to free flowing the Indus River;
• Personhood Rights to Indus River and Indus Delta;
• The right to perform essential functions within its ecosystem;
• The right to be free from pollution;
• The right to feed and be fed by sustainable aquifers;
• The right to native biodiversity;
• The right to restoration and conservation of the mangrove forests.