The federal government has decided to set up a high-level negotiating committee led by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar to tackle the concerns raised by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and other parties regarding the Indus Canals project, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) sources Monday.

According to the sources, the committee will include ministers for planning, water resources, energy and food security as well as the Prime Minister’s adviser to political affairs together with water and agricultural experts. The committee aims to solve the channels controversy through negotiations, they added.

The Indus Canals project has triggered massive protests over Sindh. The Sindh government of PPP is hard against any channels on the Indus River. PPP President Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has threatened to withdraw from the ruling coalition if the project was not abandoned.

Several other parties and civil society organizations have also been staging sit-ins in different places in the province to oppose the project. They express fear that the new channels would aggravate water shortages in the province.

When you felt the seriousness of the question, the Prime Minister’s adviser Rana Sanaullah with Sindh Sindh senior minister Sharjeel Memon spoke on Sunday and offered dialogue to solve the problem. Rana spoke again with Memon on Monday, and both sides agreed to continue the negotiation process.

An important leader of PML-N told The Express Pakinomist that PPP’s concerns and other parties to the Canals project and the protests in the province were discussed at an advisory meeting in the top party’s management a few days ago.

At the meeting, PML-N president Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif agreed that the question should be resolved through negotiations. Consequently, PML-N decided to form a negotiating committee to engage in PPP and other stakeholders.

The source said the Negotiating Committee would be completed with the approval of the Prime Minister, adding that Shehbaz may also meet with President Asif Ali Zardari and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to find an amicable solution to the question.

“The Government Committee will also hold conversations with other parties about this issue,” the source said, adding that these parleys would be held in Karachi and Islamabad. “A common action plan will be decided to solve this problem,” the source said.

According to the sources, the Prime Minister may be able to convene a meeting of the Council for Common Interest (CCI), if necessary, while PML-N also weighs the possibility of convening an all parties conference on the project.

Meanwhile, Rana Sana held a telephone conversation with Sharjeel Memon – their second on so many days – to discuss the Canals question. Both parties agreed to continue the consultation process. Rana emphasized that PML-N is required to solve all questions through mutual understanding.

He emphasized that a province’s water share could not be transferred to another province under the water agreement. He added that water distribution is an administrative and technical question that can be addressed at the appropriate administrative and technical level.

Separately, Water Resource Minister Moeen Wattoo Media Persons in Okara told that the ambiguities of the issue of new channels and water distribution would soon be removed and the case would be solved amicably according to the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) Law.

“Those who spoil themselves with the point scoring of the water issue will fail. The cholistan channel gets water from Punjab’s share, and under the IRSA Act, no province can prevent another province from using his share of water,” he told journalists.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif was tasked with Rana Sanaullah to contact the PPP leaders and the question would be resolved after discussions.

“We had to sit down and talk about the problems that Pakistan faced and reach an understanding of solving them. PPP is our allies in the Federation, and, God willing, the water issue will be solved soon,” the minister said.

(With input from our Okara -Correspondent Atiqur Rehman)