02 February 2005	Wednesday	22 Zilhaj 1425

HYDERABAD, Feb 1: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has alleged that the rulers have sold out the Kashmir cause and said India is violating the Indus Basin Treaty by constructing the Baghliar dam.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Tuesday, MNA Sahibzada Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair said Kashmir was the jugular vein of Pakistan and river water was the main stay of its agriculture.

He said India, in cooperation with an Israeli company, was constructing the Baghliar dam to stop the flow of rivers. He claimed that President Gen Pervez Musharraf had told the nation that by taking a U-turn on the Afghanistan policy he had saved Kashmir but it was now quite clear that the rulers had also bargained on the Kashmir issue.

Mr Zubair observed that on the one hand the government had extended a hand of friendship to India and on the other, it was blaming India for creating disturbances in Wana and Balochistan.

Abdul Waheed Qureshi said India had not given up its obduracy because at initial stages it tried to construct the Wullar barrage and now it was using the Baghliar dam as a weapon against Pakistan.