KARACHI, Sept 14: The issue of water reservoirs and dams is purely a technical one and should be settled by technical experts.
This was declared by the President of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Allama Shah Ahmad Noorani (Senator), while commenting on President Musharraf’s address to the nation.
The MMA chief suggested setting up of a commission of inquiry comprising chief engineers (Irrigation) of all the four provinces and judges of the high courts of the three concerned provinces. The head of the commission, he added, should be a senior judge of the Supreme Court.
Maulana Noorani said that the commission should be given three monthstime to complete its inquiry, record the provinces’ views and submit its findings as an arbitrator on the distribution of water among the provinces.
He observed that the dam/reservoir issue was not a unique issue or being faced by the people of Pakistan only. He pointed out that the problem had been faced by European countries, United States, Canada, etc. Even in India, a river passes through different states but water distribution problem had amicably been resolved long ago and without politicizing the issue.
He advised people, especially politicians, not to politicize the issue which was purely a technical one.
He said that the proposed commission could provide politicians an opportunity to record his point of view before reaching any conclusion.
The MMA chief further suggested establishment of a regulatory authority for water distribution. An aggrieved province should have the right to refer to the Supreme Court in case of any dispute and justice should be restored to it within a stipulated period.
The central leader of PPP and a former chief minister of Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah (MPA), termed the President’s address ‘painful’. He described Gen Musharraf’s certain remarks as an insult to the parliament and provincial assemblies and violative of the Articles 153 and 155 of the Constitution.
Apparently, he observed, Gen Musharraf apologized for the excesses meted out against the people of Sindh in the past, but in fact he himself had caused more wounds to them with injustices and his unilateral decisions.
“Record of the Sindh Assembly proves that the people of Sindh had not accepted the unapproved decision by Jam Sadiq Ali. The opposition had recorded its protest.”
In the 1991 Accord, there is no mentioned of the construction of the dam. It only mentions ‘water storage’ and that, too, if in excess of the share after its utilization by the province, he contended.
Mr Shah said that the federal government ought to resect the Constitution where Articles 153 to 155 pertained to Council of Common Interest which was supposed to hear the objections by any province and pass its judgment. The government has failed to constitute the council, he added.
Had the CCI been constituted, it would have heard the smaller provinces’ grievances and would have evolved an accord in accordance with the Constitution, Mr Shah said, and added that if in case of any objection from a province on the accord, the same would have been taken up by the parliament.
He said that the assemblies of smaller provinces had adopted resolutions against the Greater Thal Canal and Kalabagh Dam with a consensus and going against their decision tantamount to an insult to the Constitution and democratic institutions.
Leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, Rashid Rabbani, Munawwar Suhrawardi, Manzoor Hussain Wasan, Agha Siraj, Ejaz Jakhrani, Jameel Soomro and other PPP leaders in a joint statement described Gen Musharraf’s remarks during his address to the nation as “a conspiracy to instigate people of the smaller provinces to revolt.
However, they said, people of Pakistan would not allow any individual to hatch a conspiracy against the federation in the cover of of ‘politics of dams’. They warned that the people would topple the government before June 2004.
Chief of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement Afaq Ahmad, in his reaction to the President’s address, said that Sindh was being pushed to the wall by raising the Kalabagh Dam issue. This, he warned, was a serious threat to the country’s integrity.
He claimed that not only Sindh, but Balochistan and the NWFP also had reservations over the dam. He described their opposition as a principled stand.
Sindhis and Mohajirs have common approach as far as interests of the country are concerned, he declared and called for efforts to strengthen the motherland further.
Vice-President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Arshad Alam, welcomed the President’s address to the nation describing it ‘a piece of hard facts’, agencies add.
Mr Alam supported the President’s suggestion that all the reservoirs identified so far be constructed by setting a priority according to their utility and application.
He was, however, of the view that all these projects should be discussed at every level to ascertain a matured and more realistic opinions.
Senator Amin Dadabhoy also hailed President’s address and said that the construction of the dam and the canal would be beneficial to the people of Sindh in terms of the availability of water and generation of power. This, he said, would ultimately lead to a drop in prices of locally manufactured industrial products.
