Kalabagh Dam to submerge vast area of Peshawar Valley: Bilour

PESHAWAR: Accepting the government's challenge to debate Kalabagh dam in the National Assembly, ANP MNA, Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour Thursday alleged that PTV had been turned into Punjab television to launch a one-sided campaign in favour of the controversial project. Talking to newsmen here at his residence, the former federal minister for railways denied the opposition was shying from debating Kalabagh dam and said that the ANP was ever ready to prove that the project would do more harm than bring any benefits. He charged that a certain coterie of people including what he called "Punjabi chauvinists" wearing the cloak of 'Pakistanism' had put Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on a wrong track to pit one province against the other and destabilise the democratic system.

The same set of people, Bilour said, were claiming that the project would prove beneficial to the four provinces and trying to disclaim its critics by harping about technicalities. "What's so technical about it?" he asked, adding Peshawar valley which was the backbone of the NWFP agricultural and industrial economy was surrounded by mountains from three sides where, he pointed out, there already existed Warsak and Tarbela dams. Another dam on river Indus would cause water-logging and salinity besides submerging a vast area. "Even a naive person would tell what damage could a third dam cause," he remarked. He advocated the construction of Basha dam,which he maintained, would not only stop the silt from coming in Tarbela lake and increase its life by another 70 years but would also generate 3,500 mw electricity at much cheaper price and without causing any significant dislocation of people or damaging agricultural land. He decried government's claim that Kalabagh dam would generate 3,500 mw electricity and said that by lowering the height of the dam from 925 feet to 915 feet, the power generating capacity of the dam had also decreased to 2400 mw. "Why is the government so pushed about electricity when it has claimed to have 1,800 mw of surplus power to sell to other countries," he remarked.

The ANP leader also did not agree with Chief Minister Mahtab that the Indus Water Accord provided for the construction of water storages. Bilour said the ANP would have no objection if Punjab built dam in Dera Ghazi Khan or Kashmore. "But we cannot let them drown us in our waters," he warned. Sindh and Balochistan, he maintained, would not get a single drop of water from the dam either and it was wrong to presume that all provinces would benefit from the project. He also dispelled the impression that the southern districts of "Pakhtoonkhwa" would get water from the project. Wapda, he said, had admitted there was no provision for high level canal or gravity canal to supply water. "We are not even getting water for Dera Ismail Khan which could irrigate 1.1 million acre land there," he charged. "The fact is that we are being given a step-motherly treatment and it would have dangerous consequences for national integrity," added Ghulam Bilour.

PPP to join ANP's anti-Kalabagh Dam drive

PESHAWAR: Following the Awami National Party's formal invitation to the Pakistan Peoples Party in NWFP, the latter has decided to take active part in the proposed anti-Kalabagh rally scheduled for August 10.

In a meeting of the PPP provincial cabinet on Tuesday, provincial chief Barrister Masud Kausar informed about the decision which he said, had been taken following formal invitation by the ANP. He felt the need to overthrow Nawaz's government, adding: "He was incapable to offer solution to the festering price-hike, unemployment and deteriorating law and order in the country".

Kausar alleged that the ill-timed announcement to construct the multi-billion dollars controversial project had polarised the nation along provincial lines. It said the rallies led by Benazir Bhutto from Sindh, ANP's Rehbar Khan Abdul Wali Khan from Peshawar on August 10, would prove last proverbial straw on the camel's back. It decided to issue directives to its division, district and tehsil level organisations to ensure full participation in the rally and make it a success. It said, people were unanimous to oppose the dam, hoping they would offer complete resistance. The meeting showed solidarity with the protesting workers, traders whom it said had been put on the back-burner due to the ill-conceived policies of the government. It passed resolutions rejecting the privatisation of Wapda, imposition of general sale tax, abolition of divisional offices and FATA Development Corporation and backed the demands of All Pakistan Clerks Association besides condemning the closure of Khazana Sugar Mills.

Sindh's anti-dam group calls for strike on 17th

HYDERABAD: Calling upon the democratic and nationalist forces of Sindh to shun their differences and gather at a single platform against the controversial Kalabagh Dam, the newly-formed Anti-Kalabagh Dam Action Committee has appealed to the people of Sindh to observe complete strike on Wednesday (June 17) all over the province (right from Karachi to Kashmore). G M Bhurgari, the head of Sindh National Congress (SNC), has been nominated as the convener of the committee, which also consists of membership of Dr Qadir Magsi-led Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party, Mazhar Jatoi-led Sindh Hari Committee, Qamar Bhatti-led Sindh Qaumparast Party, Maulana Ubaidullah Bohio-led Sindh Saghar Party and other organisations. Dr Qadir Magsi, who also presided over his party's CEC meeting on Friday, addressed a hurriedly called press conference and strongly opposed Nawaz Sharif's announcement of Kalabagh Dam construction. He made an appeal to the leadership of various democratic and nationalist parties to say goodbye to their differences and raise voice against the dam. The STPP chief also said that in this difficult time, Benazir Bhutto, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Pir Pagaro and others should guide the Sindh's people and should strengthen their hands in becoming a wall against the controversial dam, which now has become the question of life and death for Sindhis. It is the right time for the MQM to join hands and support the anti-Kalabagh Dam struggle by agitating in national and provincial assemblies and in the Senate, he said. If Nawaz Sharif kept on insisting on building the Kalabagh Dam, then one day it will prove to be a last nail in the coffin of the federation, and this ultimately will lead to the disintegration of the country, he said. He also appealed to Abdul Hameed Jatoi to join the anti-dam grouping.

Kalabagh Dam puts Mahtab in trouble, facilitates ANP

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Sardar Mahtab may not like it or even concede it. But today he finds himself in thick soup, thanks to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Not that he had not had a change of heart on Kalabagh Dam. In an interview with The News in April last, the chief minister had dropped heavy hints to the fact that his government would not at all be averse to the construction of the dam, against which the NWFP Assembly had passed three unanimous resolutions. Yet the manner in which Prime Minister Sharif announced the decision and the timing of it, did not help Mahtab at all. Although, like a true loyalist, Mahtab has come out in full support of the decision, those keeping a close watch on the political scenario in NWFP believe Sharif has done him no good. By doing so, the Prime Minister has not only provided the much-needed rallying point to the opposition but also helped the ANP and PPP to cement further their new alliance. Also, the ANP which was groping for an identity after severing its nine-year-old association with the PML, has bounced back with full vengeance.

The June 15 incident at the NWFP Assembly, when the opposition threw taunts at the chief minister, should thus be seen in the same context. The ANP leaders privately admit that the Prime Minister had helped repair the cracks within the party by reviving a controversial issue. In fact, the situation took such a turn that the three ANP MPAs, two of them from Nowshera, who were widely seen to have developed differences with the party, had to come out in open opposition to the project. Without going into the merits and demerits of the dam, it is now evident that the Prime Minister's announcement was ill-timed. It is now an open secret that the Prime Minister did not take even his close aides into confidence before making public his intentions on the controversial dam. That there has been loud thinking on the project for months within the ruling PML was evident. On May 4, the PML drove dozens of its activists to Gandaf, to raise slogans in favour of Kalabagh dam during Prime Minister's public address at the inaugural ceremony of Pehur High Level Canal. If that was not enough, speeches by Federal Minister for Water & Power Raja Nadir Pervez and Chief Minister Sardar Mahtab did not leave much to doubt, though the chief minister insisted that project should be part of an incentive package. Unfortunately though, no package was announced.

The chief minister informed The News recently, that a package was in preparation to be announced shortly by the Prime Minister himself which would include a right bank gravity canal from Kalabagh dam to irrigate 6,00,000 acres of barren, parched land in southern districts of the NWFP and Munda dam at river Swat to pre-empt recurrence of a 1929-like floods which inundated Nowshera and the adjoining areas. The right bank gravity canal, according to the chief minister, would cost Rs 55 billion. Where would the federal government going to get the finances from for this gigantic project, almost similar in magnitude in terms of funding to that of the Kalabagh dam, is open to question. It was thus not for nothing that feasibility studies conducted by international experts described the proposition of a right bank canal from the proposed dam as unfeasible and not viable. As a matter of fact, the federal government has not even bothered to take its own parliamentarians from the NWFP into confidence on the project. Reservations and disappointment expressed by these parliamentarians at a briefing by Wapda chairman Shamsul Mulk, particularly by MPAs from the southern districts, thus did not come as a surprise.

Senator Anwar Kamal Marwat, a strong advocate and supporter of the project, began showing dissension. Thus the hope that the division between the central and southern districts on the issue would help the government push through the project did not come true. On the contrary, it has backfired. The proposed package, thus has come too late and is a belated after-thought aimed at damage control. A classic example of putting cart before the horse! It seems that the chief minister's own antagonists within the party persuaded and convinced the prime minister to announce the project to put the chief minister in a fix. Any reluctance by the chief minister would have him lose the soft corner with the prime minister while open support to the project would have put him at war with the very strong opposition. Caught between the 'devil' (as Chief Minister Mahtab described the opposition) and the deep sea, he chose to take on the 'devil.' Still more significant, is the sudden rise in political acrimony in the NWFP. The chief minister defends the use of harsh and provocative language against the ANP during his winding up budget speech as a tit for tat to the opposition's hullabaloo during his budget speech but he also admits that his party colleagues are egging him to cause more fire crackers.

It seems that the chief minister is walking into the trap laid by some of his own party colleagues to destabilise him. While no one could condone the opposition's disruption of his budget speech, his position as the Leader of the House demands greater restraint and patience. The political acrimony is not going to benefit any political party having representation in the NWFP Assembly. The fear among the MPAs on bot sides of the political divide that NWFP Assembly is drifting towards a possible dissolution will do more harm than any good. Talks of forming groups within both the PML and the ANP to 'save the provincial assembly' are already doing the rounds, something neither of the parties can afford.

ANP demo against Kalabagh Dam on Aug 10

PESHAWAR: The ANP has decided to stage a token protest rally from Nowshera to Attock against the Kalabagh Dam on August 10. This was decided in a meeting of the party's provincial executive held here on Thursday under the presidentship of Begum Nasim Wali Khan. The four-hour meeting was also attended by the ANP central president Ajmal Khattak, its MNAs, senators and MPAs as well as members of the provincial cabinet and working committee. A press release said the meeting discussed the political situation in the the country, inflation, anarchy and the recent alliance between the nationalist forces.

The meeting condemned Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's announcement to build the Kalabagh Dam and decided to resist its construction tooth and nail. A resolution passed by the meeting described the dam as a project aimed at destruction of the Pakhtoons and the Sindhis. With regard to the protest rally against Kalabagh Dam on August 10, it was decided that party workers and supporters along with its parliamentarians would leave Nowshera in a vehicular procession for Attock. Later, the procession under the leadership of Ajmal Khattak and Begum Nasim Wali would walk to Attock and address the protesters.

Emergency, Kalabagh Dam criticised

KHAIRPUR: Advocates and politicians of the Khairpur district have criticised the emergency and announcement of building the Kalabagh Dam. According to a survey, the general secretary of the Khairpur Bar advocate Habib-ur-Rehman and treasure Ahmed Ali Shahani said that Nawaz Sharif has taken two serious steps of the building the Kalabagh dam and declaring emergency in the country. They said there was no need of the declaring emergency as the circumstances were favourable for the country.

They alleged that Nawaz has proved that he is a dictator. When three provinces did not vote for emergency, why did he got the resolution approved, he said. They said that Nawaz has planned to blackmail the three provinces through the Kalabagh Dam. PPP ladies wing office-bearers Begum Irshad Jillani, Mobeen Ahmed Phulpoto and Nawab Khan Wassan rejected the two announcements asserting that being a party of the masses, the PPP will protect their interests. They said emergency was declared for suppressing the politicians of the PPP, and harassing them through the police. They said the Kalabagh Dam had already been rejected by three provinces. Why Nawaz Sharif took a decision ignoring the wishes of three provinces, they asked. The agricultural land of Sindh would become barren after the dam is built, they said, as the Kachcha areas of Sindh are cultivated through the irrigation water. There will be no discharge to Sindh from the dam, they alleged.

Dozens of people ready to join anti-Dam force

NOWSHERA: Dozens of people from different parts of the province are volunteering to join the force to blow up the Kalabagh dam reservoir, if the same is built. This was disclosed by the chairman All Parties Anti-Kalabagh Dam Action Committee Mian Ajmal Shah Kakakhel at a public meeting here at Khushal Khan Khattak Library on Sunday. The meeting was addressed by the political leaders, including ANP's Liaqat Shabab, Azizullah Jan Khan, Aimal Khan and Israr Khattak, JUI(S)'s Maulana Hamidul Haq Haqqani and JUI(F)'s Qazi Abdul Alam, Pukhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP)'s Nadir Khan Durrani, Pukhtoonkhwa Qaumi Party (PQP)'s Atlas Khan, Pakistan Workers Confederation's Iqbal Khan and Anti-Kalabagh Dam Front's Mian Yahya Shah Kakakhel. "We are ready to face any situation," Mr Kakakhel said while speaking at the public meeting which also reiterated its stand to offer a strong opposition to the construction of the controversial water project.

He said a tens of youth and even elders have entered their names with him as volunteers to join the force for blowing up the dam's reservoir which will be situated in Nowshera district. Mr Kakakhel said the committee will soon announce the initiation of its struggle against the Kalabagh Dam. In this regard, he added, they will resort to every kind of direct action to frustrate the nefarious designs for the division of Pakistan. They also asked the people of smaller provinces to get ready for a struggle against the dam project, harmful for all the three smaller provinces of the country. Speakers condemned Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for implementing his pro-Punjabi agenda through the construction of Kalabagh Dam. However, they pleged that conspiracies of the anti-Pakistan elements will be frustrated by the people of three smaller provinces. This, they added, will also lead to the fall of the Nawaz Sharif's government. They went on to say that Nawaz Sharif violated the constitution of Pakistan by announcing the construction of Kalabagh Dam and created a gulf between the big and smaller provinces. This announcement, they believed, also led to confrontation between Punjab and rest of the federating units of Pakistan. Speakers further said that Pakhtoons, Sindhis and Balochs will never allow the implementation of an agenda prepared by the remnants of martial law regime, in connivance with United States to materialise the dream of Greater Punjab and disintegration of Pakistan. The smaller nationalities fought against the British rulers and will also snatch their rights from the usurpers, presently ruling the country.

Mixed reaction to construction of Kalabagh Dam

NAWABSHAH: Syed Imdad Muhamad Shah, a former MPA and the son of late G M Syed said that nationalists of Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan had better unite to launch a campaign against the construction of Kalabagh Dam. Talking to newsmen here, he said it seemed as the imposition of emergency was the first step for the construction of Kalabagh Dam. He feared and it could be a starting point for Pakistan's disintegration. Shah said that after the announcement of the construction of Kalabagh Dam, the Sindh Chief Minister Liaquat Jatoi should have resigned. To a question, Imdad Shah said that members of the Sindh Assembly had vested interests and their meeting at the residence of Deputy Speaker Syed Jalal Mahmood Shah would not prove fruitful. While some of the nationalists are opposing the construction of Kalabagh Dam tooth and nail, some moderate people have favourable views on this burning issue. An agriculturist Muhammd Hanif Keerio said that the construction of Kalabagh Dam was in the interest of Sindh.

He said that storage at the time of floods could change the fate of the country as the water could be utilised for crops during the dry seasons. Another landlord Mohsin said that nationalists had no knowledge about the dam and were opposing the construction only to keep themselves in the news. Mohsin said that green revolution would be the fate of the country if Kalabgh Dam was constructed. He proposed that information regarding dam on media could positively mould the minds of common man. Ghulam Hyder Bhatti, Amer Jamaat-e-Islami Nawabshah, said that the dam issue was purely a technical one and experts' opinion should be sought for its construction.
 

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