PESHAWAR, June 16: Awami National Party's Senior Vice President Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour said on Tuesday that the Kalabagh Dam project was a threat to the federation and it should be shelved forever.

Commenting on a statement on the issue of dams made by Senator Nisar Memon, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on water resources, Mr Bilour said that the senator had turned a blind eye to the ground realities as Punjab had already sold out its share of water to India, and it had no right to the water of the Indus River.

He said that the use of 45,000 cusec water by Punjab from the Indus River was illegal. He said that before the Partition, the Punjab province was not entitled to use water from the Indus, "but now Punjab has been usurping 45,000 cusec water through the construction of Jinnah, Chashma and Tunsa barrages".

Mr Bilour said that 21,000 cusec of water from Kabul river flowed into Indus, but in return nothing was given to this province. He said that in the east and west of Peshawar valley, Tarbela and Warsak dams were constructed, and now if Kalabagh dam was constructed in its south the entire valley would turn into a lake.