Shehla Raza, while talking to the farmers complaining of shortage of water, called the Water Accord the ‘Baiman Accord’. Does she know that the last increase in supplies was made 40 years ago when Tarbela dam was commissioned? Does she know that demand for irrigation water has increased because the population has increased from 8 crore to 20 crore over the 40 year period? Does she think that the farmers will get sufficient water to meet their increased demand if the supply remains what it was 40 years ago? Does she know that it is under the Accord that IRSA is distributing river waters to all the stake holders as per agreed shares? Does she know that Sindh has three votes in IRSA i.e. the Sindh delegate, the federal delegate also from Sindh and the Balochistan delegate who always votes along with the Sindh delegate because Sindh controls supply to Balochistan from Sukkur barrage? Does she know that all decisions in IRSA are taken by voting process? Does she know that it was under the Accord that Punjab offered to reduce its share to increase Sindh’s share in all future dams, despite Punjab having a much larger area under cultivation? Does she know that Sindh was given this concession to develop consensus on Kalabagh dam, or does she think that the whole purpose of the Accord was to increase Sindh’s share by reducing Punjab’s share?
ENGR KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore