NASEERABAD: Hundreds of angry farmers, landowners, and residents took to the streets in Naseerabad on [Day], demanding the immediate restoration of irrigation water to agricultural areas, as allegations of political victimisation and economic sabotage mounted against provincial authorities.
The protest, led by Rais Nazim Khan Umrani, saw a large turnout of demonstrators who blocked roads and raised slogans against what they called a deliberate and unjust closure of water supplies to the Table Branch and Manjhoti Branch irrigation systems.
Former Balochistan provincial minister Mir Sikandar Ali Khan Umrani, addressing the crowd, accused the government of shutting off irrigation water on political grounds, describing the move as an “economic killing” of farmers and landowners. He claimed the closure had rendered hundreds of thousands of acres of agricultural land barren, resulting in losses running into billions of rupees and inflicting severe damage on the province’s already fragile agriculture sector.
“Never in the history of Naseerabad have farmers and landowners faced such injustice through the closure of irrigation water as they are facing today,” Umrani declared, drawing loud chants of support from the crowd.
He alleged that residents, farmers, and landowners of the affected branches were being subjected to systematic injustice and economic exploitation as part of political retaliation. He stressed that access to irrigation water was a legal right and that denying it amounted to outright political victimisation.
Umrani directly questioned the chief minister and senior government officials, demanding to know why farmers of the Table Branch and Manjhoti Branch were being singled out and deprived of water while their agricultural lands were being left to wither.
“We will not abandon our farmers and landowners,” Umrani vowed, pledging to stand by them against what he termed injustice and political retaliation.
Issuing a firm warning, he said that if water supply was not restored immediately, the protest movement would be escalated and expanded to other parts of the province. “The struggle for the rights of the people will continue until the last breath,” he affirmed.
As of the filing of this report, no official response had been issued by the Balochistan government regarding the allegations. The protests continue to gather momentum, with organisers threatening a prolonged sit-in if their demands are not met.
