Indus Resistance Conference 2025
Calls for Legal Personhood of Indus River, Climate Justice in Sindh
Hosted by Climate Action Center (CAC) in Karachi
Karachi, 15 June 2025 — The Climate Action Center (CAC) hosted the Indus Resistance Conference 2025, a landmark event advocating for climate justice and the legal personhood of the Indus River. The conference brought together legal experts, grassroots organizers, environmental defenders, and academics to examine the intersections of climate change, ecological exploitation, and indigenous resistance to mal-development projects in Sindh.
The conference opened with remarks by Yasir Husain, Director of CAC, who emphasized the existential crisis facing the Indus River and the need for collective advocacy for its protection. He also stated, “As a civil society organisation, Climate Action Center supports lawyers in their struggle for saving the Indus River and we welcome them.”
Abira Ashfaq from the reflected on a year of rigorous legal and social advocacy efforts, highlighting key movements and the growing urgency to recognize rivers as living entities with legal rights.
The first panel, “Personhood Rights of the Indus River & Climate Change,” examined global legal precedents where rivers have been granted personhood status, including cases in New Zealand, Colombia, India, and Bangladesh, and how these could inform Pakistan’s legal system.
Legal experts Advocate Kazim Mahesar, Advocate Zubair Abro, and Advocate Abira Ashfaq spoke in a panel, moderated by Yasir Husain.
Advocate Abira Ashfaq highlighted the role of financial institutions, corporations, and extractive industries in exacerbating the river’s crisis. She emphasized legal interventions and international alliances as critical tools of resistance. “It is imperative that we build international alliances to prevent companies from exploiting our natural resources,” she said, “One potential avenue is to further explore and strengthen mechanisms of shareholder activism.”
Hilaj Mahesar, a young Karachi Bar member who participated in recent protests, noted the peaceful and unified spirit of the Sindhi people, “I attended all days of the protest. I witnessed unity and the Sindhis’ love for their river. There were no violations, instead, I experienced Sindhi hospitality.”
The second session, “Climate, Capital, and the Feminine Frontline: Women’s Resistance in Extractive Greed,” spotlighted women leading community resistance against water theft, land grabs, unequal sharecropping and climate injustice across Sindh. The panel featured Advocate Shazia Nizamani, Huma Abbasi, Romisa Jami, and Rubina Chandio, moderated by Virsa Pirzado.
Speaking to the role of youth and public demonstrations, Advocate Laraib Buriro stressed the importance of collective community action.
Rubina Chandio highlighted how women in agricultural regions bear the brunt of climate and resource exploitation, “Due to rising temperatures and theft of resources, the indigenous people including women are sitting vacant. Our areas now look like deserts” she said, while pointing to the lack of implementation of the Women Agricultural Act.
Social activist and advocate Huma Abbasi described the river as deeply spiritual for Sindhi communities, “Sindhu Darya is more than emotion, it is Aqeedah,” she said. She praised the resilience of local women who “stay and fight,” while condemning global power imbalances where “we are third world countries, and used as ‘rough work’ while the main work is done for the main powers.”
The final panel, “Thirst and Theft: Legal Struggles Over Water, Canals, and Colonial Control in Light of the Babarloi Protest,” addressed grassroots legal battles against land dispossession. The panel, including Advocate Kazim Mahesar, Amar Haseeb Panhwar, Riaz Sabzoi, and Hafeez Baloch, was moderated by Advocate Abira Ashfaq.
“Extractive practices are part of the political structure. As much as construction of canals was problematic, the issue of land grabs is also,” said Amar Haseeb Panhwar, Treasurer of the Karachi Bar Association.
Advocate Kazim Mahesar described the Indus River as “a lifeline,” adding, “The river’s water flows into the sea, and it is where life actually begins.” Challenging inter-provincial power dynamics, he said, “Punjab and Sindh do not share an elder brother-younger brother relationship. We are equal shareholders. The colonial mindset should be challenged.”
Hafeez Baloch warned of the rapidly growing crisis of land grabbing across Sindh, “We have seen an increase of land grabbing. It started from Malir, to now Indus River.” He urged collective reflection, stating, “Malir? Kacho? Kirthar? How many lands will we lose?” He also warned that Karachi would face the consequences through “heatwaves, earthquakes, and tsunamis.”
Closing the conference, Yasir Husain emphasized the need for stronger cross-sectoral alliances to amplify indigenous and rural voices in the climate justice discourse.
The Indus Resistance Conference 2025 served not only as a forum for dialogue, but as a clear call to action for legal recognition of the Indus River, protection of Sindh’s natural resources, and solidarity with marginalized communities resisting extractive development.
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