KARACHI: PPP opposes KBD, raids on Marri tribesmen
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, Dec 19: The women wing of the Pakistan People’s Party, Sindh, on Monday strongly condemned the ‘inhuman attacks’ on Marri tribesmen in Balochistan and the controversial project of Kalabagh Dam.
Addressing a news conference at the Bilawal House, the wing’s information secretary, Shazia Marri (MPA), along with Surraiya Jatoi, scorned the government for employing underhand tactics to “subvert Baloch people and cheat them of their rights.”
Ms Marri deplored the government for “engaging in obvious ploys, such as attacks on the Marri tribe and bullheadedness on the Kalabagh dam, merely to divert the nation’s attention from its inability to cope with the massive crisis in the country that had been caused by the October 8 earthquake and rifts within the government ranks.
Kalabagh Dam has been a long-debated issue, which has been criticized and rejected time and again by the people of Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP, she said, indicating that the KBD project had been rejected by three assemblies through resolutions. She observed that it was not only a political issue, but also a matter having a greater potential impact on the country’s social and economic development. She stressed that the government should immediately stop insisting on the construction of the dam without any technical justification to do so.
Kalabagh Dam is an issue branching out from the very main concern facing Pakistan today, which is ‘management of water’. According to the 1991 Water Accord, which is being violated ever since Gen Musharraf took over, 114.35 MAF was the total allocation for the provinces and 10 MAF for the downstream Kotri, 4.8 MAF was India’s authorized quantity, seven MAF for new projects, 1.8 MAF for the requirement of reservoirs and 13 MAF was the annual losses. It was only after these needs had been met, that one could talk of ‘surplus’ which was not possible every year.
Ms Marri said that the record of the past 80 years showed that in only 15 years there was a surplus, i.e. only 20 per cent of the time. Moreover, there had been continuous low-flow periods, as long as 12 years at a stretch. Hence, had the KBD been built in 1922, it would have been possible to fill in those 15 years only, making it redundant 80 per cent of the period, she argued.
According to Article 6 of the 1991 Accord, “The need for storages wherever feasible, on the Indus and other rivers was admitted and recognized by the participants for planned future agricultural development.” This was the only article that talked about storages and did not allow any project which was not feasible and was detrimental to the future agricultural development, she noted.
“Dams are water banks that need to be filled with water, and we cannot afford to keep our dams dry 80 per cent of the time. The two dams, Tarbela and Mangla, having a capacity of 9.3 MAF and 7.1 MAF, respectively, have silted due to the shortage of water, in addition to improper management,” she pointed out, adding that KBD’s location — right after the Kabul River and below Tarbela — made it very logical to understand that if Tarbela was to be de-silted, the silt would collect in KBD.
The country is not in a position to afford a dam that is conventional and has a capacity of just 6.1 MAF, the quantity which may last one season only.
She said that the current water situation in Pakistan was very clear and the government must admit a shortage and stop giving false arguments without technical grounds.
