MANAGUA: A leading human rights group urged Nicaragua on Friday to abandon plans for a massive interoceanic canal, saying it poses a threat to people, forests and Central America’s largest lake. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said President Daniel Ortega’s government had trampled on the people’s rights in its rush to seal a deal for the $50-billion project with the Chinese investor behind it, Wang Jing. “Respecting nature and the rights of rural communities is not a luxury. It’s a duty,” said the Paris-based group’s president, Dimitris Christopoulos, in a statement. “These projects will have a dramatic impact on the environment and on human rights. It is unimaginable to sell off territory as such. The government must back out.” Nicaragua’s leftist government has granted Wang’s consortium, HKND, a concession to build a canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific and operate it for 116 years.