The Water Accord

0
127

While the Water Accord of 1991 has been claimed to be a landmark supposed to solve the issue of water apportionment with Punjab bending backwards to allow equal share to Sindh i.e., 37 percent for Punjab and Sindh each. This concession was apparently made to build Kalabagh dam as an incentive but Sindh has retracted from the plan as Kalabagh dam was never built and Sindh does not even want to share any water from Indus with Punjab.
It does not even want link canals of Chashma-Jhelem and Taunsa-Panjnad to be operated claiming entire water of Indus for Sindh province. Even IRSA has two members from Sindh appointed by dictator Gen Musharraf to appease Sindh to the dismay of Punjab.
The authors of Water Accord of 1991 have since capitulated by bargaining Kalabagh dam for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and removal of a ban on becoming a prime minister for the third time. So where is the Water Accord since two decades when Kalabagh dam is not to be built as agreed by the movers and shakers of Water Accord thus sealing the fate of Pakistan forever?
DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore