Pakistan has asked India not to resist the building of Bhasha dam as it would not be conducive to confidence building measures between India and Pakistan. Our country is dependent on India to getting an NOC for the dam but what is the hitch on building Kalabagh dam located squarely in Pakistan territory other than unwillingness of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and Sindh to give an NOC for it. When Pakistan has been unable to obtain from these provinces their agreement for the simple reason of being located in Punjab, how can Pakistan hope against hope that India would give NOC for Bhasha dam in Northern Areas which India assumes, albeit wrongly, as a disputed area. The eternal opposition of KP and Sindh to build a dam on Indus in Punjab is the root cause of destruction of our economy and breeding of mass poverty due to water and power shortage. The twin menaces hitting our agriculture and industry badly are no body’s concern and yet we expect India to be sympathetic to our woes.
DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore
