January 19, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 18, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 18: Opposition parties have termed General Pervez Musharraf’s address to the nation on Tuesday “a tactical move to mislead people and impose his will on them with regard to the NFC and water reservoirs issue”. They also reiterated their stand that they rejected all controversial projects.

They maintained that Gen Musharraf had no right to take decisions on such vital issues, adding that his decisions were not in accordance with the constitution. Some of them were of the view that Gen Musharraf had to make a tactical move under mounting public pressure.

Naib Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami Prof Ghafoor Ahmad said that Gen Musharraf was imposing his will on the people by ignoring the parliament and the constitution. His action had endangered national sovereignty, he said, accusing him of misleading the nation on the issue of rehabilitation of quake victims.

Mamnoon Hussain of the PML-N said that Gen Musharraf had no right to announce the NFC and reservoir projects that had been rejected unanimously by majority of the federating units. He accused the general of playing with the integrity and unity of the country.

President of the PPP Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah also maintained that Gen Musharraf had no legal right to take such decisions that were detrimental to the interests of people. He said the people of Sindh knew that what was in their interest. “Gen Musharraf need not treat them like subjects of Empire or the Red Indians.”

He pointed out that the pro-Kalabagh elements in the regime had earlier been claiming that the Bhasha Dam was not feasible at this juncture because its feasibility was not ready. Just after the general’s address, he pointed out, the same elements had started saying that some work on that project had already been started. He expressed the apprehension that soon after the ground-breaking of the Bhasha Dam, the general would go for the Kalabagh Dam for which, he suspected, some work was already under way.

Information Secretary of the PPP Taj Haider reiterated his party’s position viz-a-viz the reservoirs issue, and said that large dams were not the solution for the country’s water problems. He called for practical and cheaper options to resolve the issues of power generation and availability of the required water for irrigation and other purposes.

Regarding the NFC Award, Mr Haider said that in 1997, when the caretaker government of the day clubbed together the fast growth rate taxes of the divisible pool with the slow growth rate taxes of the federal pool and created the so-called National Tax Pool, the provinces were receiving collectively 46.7 per cent of the total taxes, besides a subvention of Rs20 billion.

This subvention alone, calculated with the allowance for inflation, would make Rs50 billion in real terms at present. “While the total share given to the provinces was lower than what they had been receiving during the PPP government, the most sensitive issue of formulating the criteria for distribution of taxes between the provinces has been pushed under the carpet. This means that population still remains the only criteria for sharing tax incomes.”

Some of the other crucial issues that had been sidetracked included the military action in Balochistan and Waziristan, reaction to the killing of Pakistani nationals by American missiles, the Greater Thal Canal, sharing of water shortages between the provinces, priority to electricity generation from reservoirs rather than meeting the irrigation needs of the provinces, and rehabilitating the Indus delta. These issues, he said, were at the root of the grave crisis that the nation faced today. Sadly, the same had been omitted once again. “How long can the gimmickry and dictatorship last?” he questioned.

Awami Tehrik’s Rasool Bux Palijo totally rejected construction of any dam on the Indus River, saying: ”We don’t trust Musharraf. Let him invite international experts and we will prove that he is wrong and that his dams will destroy Sindh.”

He pointed out that Gen Musharraf’s decision to built Bhasha dam first was only a ploy to mislead people, “He is actually focusing on Kalabagh Dam which will be completed before the Bhasha or other dams.” People would not allow this to happen, he said.

President of the Sindh ANP Shahi Sadr said that without the consent of the people of Sindh, no dam on the Indus would be acceptable. He also slammed the regime for imposing its own NFC formula despite reservations of the NWFP and Sindh.