Letter of Dr. Muhammad Mataro Hingorjo, a Physician, based in Limerick Ireland, published in The Irish Times newspaper
Sir,
I write to you not only as a general practitioner living in Ireland, but as a son of Sindh—a historic province in southern Pakistan where one of the world’s oldest Indus Valley civilizations once thrived. Today, I watch in anguish as my homeland rises in a wave of protests and sit-ins, uniting people across every profession and class in a desperate call to save the Indus River—the lifeline of our culture, economy, and existence.
The Pakistani federal government, alongside Punjab province and supported by the military establishment, has launched a controversial plan to construct six massive canals under the “Green Pakistan Initiative.” These canals would divert water from the already depleted Indus to arid lands in Punjab’s Cholistan desert. This is not a small technical project. For Sindh, it is an existential threat.
The Indus is not just a river—it is the only source of freshwater for Sindh’s people and the foundation of our agriculture, drinking water, and ecosystem. Without it, life becomes impossible. The scale of devastation this canal project could unleash is hard to overstate: mass displacement, collapse of farming communities, disease, and famine. If allowed to proceed, this plan may not just damage Sindh—it risks triggering a slow, systematic genocide through economical & ecological destruction, where an entire nation is denied the means to survive in its own homeland.
What is remarkable—and largely unseen in Pakistan’s history—is the scale and unity of the response. Lawyers have launched indefinite sit-ins, professors have closed colleges, farmers and students have joined the streets. This is not a political movement; it is a civil, social, and cultural uprising. And yet, the federal authorities remain unmoved.
We Sindhis are not asking for charity or conflict. We are demanding fairness, sustainability, and the basic right to exist. The world must understand: this is not merely a water dispute. It is a question of life and death, of survival or erasure. A nation without its river is a nation condemned.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Muhammad Mataro Hingorjo
Limerick Ireland
