In the backdrop of heavy rains in September that have inundated Sindh, Balochistan and parts of Southern Punjab, scenes of miseries can be seen of the poor masses who have become refugees in their own country with meagre belongings. Does it not bring tears to the broad smiling faces of our rulers who boast of serving the people as “Khadims”?
The hypocrisy is written large on their faces when they fail to take any action to store rain water upstream in a mega dam like Kalabagh to the relief of lower riparians. The best option would be to build Kalabagh dam post-haste to store rain water below Tarbela up to the site of Kalabagh dam that would take care of 6.1 MAF of water from flowing down to drown people in three provinces. Why is there not a single voice of politician being raised in defense of the only option remaining to solve our chronic problems of power and water in the form of shortages and damaging floods? They are wary of losing their votes of gullible people having been misinformed so far. They are guilty of criminal neglect in not speaking the truth that would lessen their troubles.
China has built six storages dams on the Brahmaputra river passing through their territory to store flood waters while we have made only one dam on Indus that is not enough to control rain water in upper reaches of little rainfall. May Allah Almighty give the capacity to our leaders to understand the dire need of Kalabagh dam to solve our water and power problems!
DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore