A private television channel telecasted a debate on Kalabagh dam with two representatives from Sindh belonging to Pakistan Peoples Party and a Sindh nationalist party as also a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz man and a private analyst from Punjab. The debate ended with a noisy match between Sindh and Punjab representatives with Sindh rep objecting to Lahore High Court taking notice of Kalabagh dam delay based on technical or political reasons.
While the former prime minister of PPP Mr Yousaf Raza Gilani was clear on the issue of Kalabagh dam being a victim of politics. The mud raised by anti-Kalabagh dam lobbies is based on misguided presumption of Nowshehra being flooded and Sindh becoming a desert if Kalabagh dam was built.
As for as Lahore High Court is concerned, water is a fundamental right of life and is squarely in the ambit of Lahore High Court. Even the Indian Supreme Court has directed that all the Indian rivers be integrated in a $ 210 billion project over the next decade. The claim that there is no water for Kalabagh dam is falsified that how come Bhasha dam would have water if Kalabagh dam would have no water.
Simply making loud noises on television would not help matters. The World Bank paid for the feasibility of Kalabagh dam and is certified it as a viable project, the self-styled opinions of some persons notwithstanding. Nowshehra was flooded in 2010 sans Kalabagh dam, so there is no logic in the anti-Kalabagh dam lobby.
DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore