Water dispute forces Pakistan PM to call long-delayed federal council meeting

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has finally scheduled a critical meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) for May 2, ending a 14-month hiatus that violated constitutional requirements for quarterly meetings. The announcement comes amid weeks of escalating tensions over controversial proposals to divert water from Pakistan's largest river system.

The controversy centers on plans to build new canals from the Indus River, which various stakeholders—including Sindh provincial authorities, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), and Sindh nationalist groups—have strongly opposed due to concerns about water security in the southern province.

According to an official notification from the CCI Secretariat, the 52nd meeting will be held at the Prime Minister's House in Islamabad next Friday.

While all council members have been informed, the exact time remains to be announced. The central focus will be addressing the controversial canal projects, with officials working to build consensus particularly between Punjab and Sindh provinces.

CCI meeting convened for canal controversy

The meeting announcement follows Thursday's talks between Prime Minister Sharif and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, where the government agreed to a moratorium on all new canal construction projects until the CCI reaches consensus on water allocation.

The Indus River system serves as Pakistan's lifeline, providing water for irrigation, drinking, and power generation across multiple provinces. Sindh province, situated downstream, has consistently expressed concerns that additional upstream diversions would threaten its agricultural economy and exacerbate existing water scarcity issues in the region.

Successive govts violated constitutional requirements

Despite constitutional mandates, the current meeting comes after a 14-month gap, highlighting a pattern of institutional neglect across multiple administrations. Pakistan's Constitution explicitly requires the CCI to convene quarterly, but records show this requirement has been breached 20 times since 2010.

The last CCI meeting occurred on January 29, 2024, during the interim government, while the council under the current administration was only officially formed on March 25, 2024.

Analysis of government records reveals violations across party lines. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government failed to meet constitutional obligations six times during its 3.5-year tenure. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) administration recorded eight violations during its 2013-2018 term, while the PPP government skipped the required meetings three times between 2010 and 2013.

In total, the caretaker government convened the CCI once during its 6.5-month tenure, while the current coalition administration has matched that record despite governing for more than 16 months. Official tallies show 40 CCI meetings occurred between 2010 and 2024, averaging fewer than three meetings annually despite the four-per-year constitutional requirement.