22/12/2025
Desertification in Disguise: Why the Cholistan Canal Will Kill Green Pakistan
As a Pakistani citizen, I feel a horrible mixture of fear and wrath because this isn't just a canal project, it's a complete tragedy playing out in front of our eyes. The Cholistan Canal Project, which was marketed to us as "greening the desert," is actually the greatest environmental betrayal of our time. In order to impose an unsustainable agricultural model on the Cholistan Desert for the advantage of a few corporate and government interests, they are attempting to desertify our current farmlands, the green spaces that provide us with food.
This plan has terrifyingly obvious repercussions. This project is condemning the lower riparian regions, particularly Sindh, to ecological death by diverting the nation's lifeblood, the Indus water. They are accelerating saltwater intrusion in the Indus Delta, which will lead to the demise of the fisheries that support many impoverished people and the destruction of mangrove trees. As if that weren't enough, stealing water from the Indus will exacerbate desertification and cause frequent sandstorms in our already troubled regions of Sindh and tail-end Punjab. What about Cholistan itself? We are only substituting a catastrophe zone of salt and waterlogging for a delicate, distinctive desert ecology. The simple fact that the water supply is only certified for the Kharif season proves this entire plan is a mirage.
This is a political catastrophe that is pulling the nation apart, not simply poor policies. The 1991 Water Apportionment Accord was mocked when the federal government and IRSA pushed this plan through in spite of Sindh's official protest and vehement opposition. The confidence between the provinces has been completely broken by this action. The Cholistani herders whose ancestral lands are being taken, our poorest residents, and downstream farmers who risk losing their means of subsistence are all being disregarded in the meanwhile. These folks are threatened with prosecution and arrested when they demonstrate.
This initiative is an obvious indication that our land and water policy is now being decided by a strong, non-democratic organization like the SIFC, completely eschewing the democratic process. Before this plan destroys Pakistan's basic ecological and political roots, we must halt it immediately, demand a thorough, transparent EIA, and insist on fair, natural options like rainwater collecting.
Opined by : Aila Sardar
Student of Political Science
