While hailed as an economic opportunity by Islamabad, this aggressive push for fossil fuel extraction—supported by new international alliances with Turkey and the United States—risks land grabbing, the exclusion of local communities, and heightened tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors, all while undermining global climate commitments.
The UNPO condemns these actions as grave injustice and highlights three primary threats:
- The Rights of the Sindhi People: The drive for extraction directly undermines the rights of Sindhi communities. Their ancestral lands, livelihoods, and cultural heritage are endangered by environmentally destructive projects imposed without their free, prior, and informed consent. UNPO warns against transforming Sindh into a resource frontier where its people bear the costs while external interests reap the benefits.
- Regional Stability: Sindh’s geographical position bordering India makes intensive resource extraction particularly sensitive. The militarization that often accompanies such projects could inflame already fragile relations between two nuclear-armed states, sowing the seeds of renewed tension and potential conflict in an unstable region.
- Global Climate Efforts: This expansion of fossil fuel exploration stands in stark contradiction to global commitments to fight climate change. It aggravates the precarious situation in Sindh, one of the region’s most severely affected by climate-induced disasters like the recent devastating floods. Intensifying fossil fuel projects will place unbearable pressure on fragile ecosystems and worsen the vulnerability of communities still struggling to recover.
Considering these realities, UNPO strongly condemns the expansion of fossil fuel projects in Sindh and denounces the disregard shown for the rights of the Sindhi people. UNPO calls upon the international community to reconsider involvement in projects that perpetuate exploitation and environmental destruction.
Above all, UNPO reaffirms its solidarity with the Sindhi people in their struggle for dignity, justice, and sustainability. Their land, dignity, and future cannot be sacrificed on the altar of resource extraction.
UNPO stands firmly alongside Sindh, reaffirming its right to self-determination, environmental protection, and social justice.
