ISLAMABAD Dec 1: The federal cabinet, which met here on Thursday, disucssed options on the country’s water reservoir needs and decided to take political parties into confidence on early construction of Kalabagh or Basha dam. The decision came as a surprise as it followed President Musharraf’s recent meeting with Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad and Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim which is said to have ended on a dissenting note.
The meeting was a part of the president’s initiative of holding meetings with representatives of the four provinces.
He was scheduled to meet the four provincial chief ministers on Friday (Dec 2) to continue the process of ‘taking the political leadership into confidence’ but the meeting was cancelled.
Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told newsmen after the cabinet meeting that only the political leadership ‘within the country’ would be consulted on the issue, emphasising that ‘the leaders in exile have no role in the country’s politics.’
Mr Rashid reiterated that political future of Benazir Bhutto would be decided by the verdict in the Swiss reference and also that she would have to face cases in the country whenever she returned.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who presided over the meeting, briefed journalists on water availability in the rivers in the light of the Abbasi report, high- level meetings on the issue and the options under consideration of the government for construction of one or two big dams.
“There will be no round-table conference on the water reservoir issue but the government will contact the political parties to take them into confidence on the issue”, said the minister.
It was not clear whether the president will meet the politicians or the job will be assigned to the prime minister. Mr Ahmed said: “both the president and prime minister are part of the system and anyone or both of them can handle the matter”.
The cabinet appeared divided on the Kalabagh dam issue as ministers from Sindh and the NWFP expressed reservations, inside sources said.
Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar briefed the cabinet about the government’s efforts for gaining maximum pledges from donors for relief and rehabilitation work in the earthquake-hit areas.
She said that 37,000 next of kin of the dead had received compensation, 25,000 houses had been reconstructed, 47 field hospitals established and relief goods were continuously being supplied to the remote areas.
The building code report will be made available by December 15 for the cabinet’s approval.
Director-General, Meteorological Department, Dr Qamaruz Zaman Chaudhry, briefed the cabinet about the possibility of an earthquake in the country.
He tried to assure the cabinet that ‘according to seismic survey reports, there is no danger of an earthquake in Islamabad in near of distant future and no earthquake of 6.7 magnitude is expected to occur in long time to come.’
The cabinet was informed that Gen Musharraf had worked hard to make the donor’s conference a success as a result the country had received pledges of $4 billion in soft loans and $2.2 billion in grant for the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts.
The cabinet was assured that the expenditure on disaster management and rehabilitation efforts would be made transparent and its details would be made available to the donors and the people.
Answering a question about the ongoing diplomatic activity on Kashmir, the minister said the entire Kashmiri leadership, including both factions of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, had reached a consensus on demilitarization and self-government and it was for India to consider the option for a permanent solution of the dispute. He expressed the hope that the resolution of the Kashmir issue was about to become a reality.
