The sea was swallowed up by the Pakistani bond, which is now threatened by channels Water news

Thata, Pakistan – In the afternoon sunny in Dando Jetty, a small village for fishing in the spoud bond Delta in Pakistan, a boat and another are about to leave for the Arab Sea.

Fouzia Soomro is rising from a loudspeaker on a boat nearby.

About 130 kilometers (81 miles) from the largest city of Karachi in Pakistan, Dando Jetty sits on the bank of Kreik’s news, one of the tables in the Sind River in Tata, a coastal area in the eastern population province.

“There must be fresh water in this creek, flowing to the sea,” Zachani Sakani tells Al -Jazeera, starting on a boat to visit the village of his grandparents, Haji Qadir Box Sakani, in Kharu Chan, a sub -area of ​​Thaata, three hours away. “Instead, it’s sea water.”

Six years ago, Sakani, 45, used to be a farmer. But his land was swallowed, along with the rest of the village of Haji Qadir Box Sakani, by the sea, forcing him to migrate to Baghan, 15 km (nine miles) from Dando Getty, and moved to sewing to survive.

Now, the port of Kharou Chan wears an abandoned look – there is no human on the horizon, stray dogs roam freely, and abandoned boats outperform those that are still in the service. Sakani sometimes goes to Kharu Chan to visit his father’s graves and other jade.

“We have visited 200 acres (81 hectares) from the ground and raised the livestock here,” said Sakani standing in the port. “But all of them were lost in the sea.”

Kharu Chan was previously a prosperous area of ​​42 “Dehs” (villages), of which only three are now. The rest was immersed in the sea, forcing thousands of people to migrate to other villages or the city of Karachi.

According to the government census, the population of Kharu Chan decreased from 26,000 in 1988 to 11403 in 2023.

It was not the only one who only met this fate. In the past decade, dozens of villages have disappeared in the Sind Delta, and the advanced sea swallowed them.

New channel projects

Now, a new threat appeared in a vulnerable ecosystem.

As part of the so -called Green Pakistan Initiative, the Pakistani government is seeking an investment of $ 6 billion from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain over the next three to the next five years to grow companies, with the aim of being 1.5 million acres (600,000 hectares) of barren lands.

The project aims to see a total of 4.8 million acres (1.9 million hectares) of arid lands by building six channels – two in the provinces each in Sind, Baluchistan, and Punjab. Five of these channels will be on the bond, while the sixth will be built along the Sutlig River of the Cholisan Desert in Punjab Province, the most populated in Pakistan.

According to the Indus Water, the water distribution agreement in which the World Bank between India and Pakistan has mediated, Sutlej waters are primarily to India. It is one of the five rivers that arise in India and fall into the bond in Pakistan. Along with Sutlej, the Ravi and Beas rivers also belong to India under the treaty, while Chenab and Jhelum water, regardless of Indus itself is Pakistan.

However, Sutlej brings water to Pakistan during the monsoon winds in India, with Chulletin historically dependent on rains for irrigation.

“They will convert water from the bond to Suleig via Chinab and then to the Chulletin channel,” said Obhyu Khoshuk, a former irrigation engineer. “You cannot build a new irrigation system depending on the flood water (seasonal wind).”

Meanwhile, companies have already begun to grow in Chul-Solistan under the Green Initiative of Pakistan, where the authorities approved 4,121 degrees of water to irrigate 0.6 million acres (24,000 hectares) of land in the Chulbstan Desert-a larger area of ​​Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan.

Mohamed Ihessan Legari, representative of the bond at the Sind River System (IRSA), an organizational body established in 1992 to oversee the allocation of water for the four provinces of Pakistan, strongly opposed this step.

“From 1999 to 2024, no one year passed without water shortage in Pakistan, where the provinces of Sind and Baluchistan face up to 50 percent of the scarcity of water during the summer. In this case, where will the water come from the proposed canal system?” He asked.

In a letter to the Council of Common Interests (CCI), a constitutional body licensed to solve issues between the federal government and provinces, the government of the bond criticized the project, saying that Irsa has no right to issue water availability certificates. CCI heads the Prime Minister with the Prime Minister in the four provinces and three federal ministers as a member.

The Minister of Irrigation in Sindh, Jam Khan Shoro, warned that the Chulletin channel “will transform the barren bond.” However, the Minister of Planning and Federal Development said the best demand that the objections of the Sind government were “baseless” because the new channels will not affect its share of water.

But Hassan Abbas, an independent water and environment consultant in Islamabad, describes the Cholisan channel as a “non -scientific” project. According to him, the construction of the canal system needs a stable and fixed land, not the sand dunes as in Cholisan.

Abbas said: “Water does not know how to climb the sand dunes.”

Delta destroy

The powerful bond river has been flowing for thousands of years, and as soon as it was installed by one of the first well -known human civilizations scattered across Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.

But when the British colonized the almost the continent two centuries ago, they also designed the river, built dams and diverted its path. After independence in 1947, the same colonial policies followed successive governments, where more weeds, dams and channels led to the destruction of the Sindh Delta – the fifth larger in the world.

“The delta consists of sand, silt and water. The process of destroying the Sind Delta began in 1850 when the British created a channel network. Abbas told Al Jazerara:“ Every channel built in Pakistan, India or China since then has contributed to the destruction of the Sindh Delta. ”

According to a study conducted in 2019 conducted by the United States Center for Advanced Studies in Water, the Sind Delta was published on an area of ​​more than 13900 square kilometers (5367 square meters) in 1833, but it shrunk to only 1067 square kilometers (412 seconds) in 2018-by 92 percent in its original area.

“The open hand delta and its tables are like her fingers that fall into the sea,” said Sakani. “The distance between those fingers is home to millions of people, animals and other creatures, but it is shrinking quickly.”

With more and more lands deteriorating, residents were forced to migrate towards the source. But not everyone can move. Those who remained in the delta turned from agriculture to other professions, especially hunting.

Sidique Katiar, 55, has become a resident of Haji Yousif Katiar near Dando Jetty, a fisherman for about 15 years.

“I remember that there were only a few boats in our village. Now, every family has boats (and) the number of hunters grow day after day.”

Loss of livelihood

In Sanhiri Creek along the Arab Sea, a seven -hour boat trip lives in Dando Jetty, about ten temporary huts by the so -called “fishing workers”.

Nathe Malah, 50, a resident of the village of Joho in the Kitty Bandar area in Tatia, is one of them. It pushes a small iron penis in a jar of salt and then insert it into the sandy ground. Shortly awaits before pulling the penis back, and quickly acquired a small water creature known locally as “Maroarri” (parasite in English), due to its long, narrow and rectangular shape, similar to the old style shaving.

Malah works with her husband and six children to arrest “Maroarri”, which fishermen say was exported only to China. None of Mallah’s children go to school where the family works for 10-12 hours a day for the local contractor, which provides them with some salt and water.

Marroarri sells 42 Pakistani rupees (15 American cents) kilo, and each member of the Malah family brings about 8-10 kg per day, and gets it enough to survive. Nathey entered the work about five years ago when she exceeded the hunting profession in Joho.

Mohamed Sadik Malah, Nathe’s husband, says that the increase in land degradation has led people to shift from agriculture to fishing. The 55 -year -old told Al -Jazeera: “There are more hunters on the sea more than there was in my youth,” the 55 -year -old told Al -Jazeera.

A report issued by the World Bank for 2019 says that fishing diminished from 5,000 tons annually in 1951 to 300 tons now due to the deterioration of the Indian Delta, forcing Pakistan to face a loss of $ 2 billion annually.

Nathe said: “There was a time when our men went to the sea and returned in 10 days.” “Now they don’t return even after a month.”

There is no water for crops

God Box is 60 -year -old, who lives in Dando Jetty where tomatoes, hot peppers, some vegetables and cotton leaves are grown. He says that fresh water is available only within two months of the seasonal wind season.

But the Genital Park in Calti needs water every two weeks. He says, “It has now passed a month and there is no water for plants.”

According to the 1991 Water Consolies Agreement, an agreement should be emptied between the four provinces of Pakistan on water participation, at least 10 million acres of water (MAF) of water annually below the Kotri fabric, which is the last Indus conversion, for the deltami ecosystem.

In 1991, the International Federation for Conservation of Nature in Switzerland recommended the publication of 27maf annually-a goal that can never be achieved. Moreover, IRSA data showed that the water flow was less than 10 mA in 12 years of the past 25 years because the officials have turned it to another place before reaching the sea.

“Ten water is not enough for the Sind Delta. The researcher Abbas said, which is due to the lack of water to the dams and bishops:” He received 180 to 200 mAh annually before the channel system and requires the same amount of water to survive. “

We have 10 percent water of the last century. But building the channel after the channel diverted the flow of water, which led to the overpowering water and sedimentation in the dams.

Mahmoud Nawaz Shah, president of the Farmers Association in Sindh, said that the irrigation system in Pakistan has become “old and old”. He said: “Our average grain production is 130 grams per cubic meter, while it is 390 grams in neighboring India.”

Shah explained that instead of expanding the irrigation system, Pakistan needs to repair the current water network and better manage the supplier. He said: “Pakistan uses 90 percent of its water in agriculture, while using the world with a maximum of 75 percent.”

“There are areas where the channels are available, but the water does not reach when needed. Take, for example, the Indta of the bond. You have no water for the current lands suitable. Pakistan should learn how to provide water and increase its production.”

Returning to Dando Jetty, Sakani has just returned after visiting his village in Kharu Chan. Before going home, he wanted to buy some fresh fish in Dando, but no boat from the sea arrived on that day.

He said: “There was a time when we were distributing (Hills Hering) among the beggars.” “But now, we cannot get fish in this place.”

Meanwhile, Tide High Tide makes the sea similar, and now only 7-8 km (4-5 miles) from Pagan, the New Sakani’s birthplace.

“The sea was 14-15 km (8-9 miles) when we turned here from Kharu Chan,” he said to the island of the island. “If the fresh water is not left in the direction of the river, the sea will continue to erode the Earth, and in the next 15 years, Bagan will also perish. We will have to move again to another place.

“More channels and obstacles to the River of the bond would completely prevent the flow of water to the sea. It will be the last nail in the coffin of the bond.”