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| December 18, 2005 | Sunday | Ziqa’ad 15, 1426 |
ANP threatens to quit assemblies
PESHAWAR, Dec 17: The Awami National Party (ANP) has warned that its parliamentarians would resign from the NWFP Assembly and Senate if President Gen Pervez Musharraf goes ahead with plans to build the controversial Kalabagh dam.
Talking to reporters after a meeting of the party’s office-bearers at Bacha Khan Markaz on Saturday, ANP president Asfandyar Wali Khan said that President Musharraf was developing ‘forced consensus’ over the issue.
The ANP has ten MPAs and two senators, including the party president, in the upper house of parliament.
Mr Khan said that he would appeal to other political parties to follow suit, as there was no point in representing people in parliament in the presence of a president in uniform who could overrule their resolutions.
He alleged that the president wanted Punjab to be at odds with the rest of the country so as to create 71-like situation that led to the dismemberment of the country.
“Let me make it clear that the general (Musharraf) and his supporters would be responsible if anything happens in the aftermath of the dam announcement,” the ANP chief said.
He acknowledged the need for large water reservoirs, but argued that there were a number of other options available, which were more beneficial.
Kalabagh, he said, was in fact a plan by the Punjab to control water of the Indus river. Punjab had sold its water to India under the Indus Water Treaty and was bent upon depriving the NWFP and Sindh of their water, he added.
He announced to lead an anti-Kalabagh dam rally at Jahangira, Nowshera district on Dec 29, and to participate in the Sindh anti-Kalabagh dam rally in Karachi on Dec 22.
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