PESHAWAR, Jan 18: The Awami National Party has appreciated Gen Pervez Musharraf’s decision to build Bhasha and Munda dams instead of the controversial Kalabagh dam which has been rejected by the people of the NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan.

In a statement issued from the Bacha Khan Markaz on Wednesday, the party’s spokesman said the Musharraf government had also dropped the idea of the Akori dam which had not been supported by the World Bank.

The statement said the ANP was not against building water reservoirs and hydel-power projects. Instead it had been demanding construction of Bhasha, Katzara, Munda, Gomal Zam and Mirani dams for a long time and stood by its demand for dams on these sites.

The statement however alleged that the president had distorted facts in his televised speech to the nation on Tuesday night.

The president, it said, had refused to accepts reports and opinions of experts and his contention that some elements were against the Kalabagh dam because of their vested interests was baseless. The anti-Kalabagh rally held on December 29 in Nowshera proved that it was harmful for the NWFP. All political parties in the province setting aside the Ideological differences, had participated in the historic rally. The statement criticizing the remarks made by the president parliamentary committee’s report on the Kalabagh dam and said that the committee headed by Senator Nisar A. Memon was an official body with no representation given to the NWFP government.

“Two so-called experts were nominated for the committee by the federal government, while two other experts, who participated in the committee as representatives of the NWFP were actually part of the Punjab delegation,” it alleged.

The ANP urged the government to allow time to people opposed to Kalabagh dam on the PTV to present their point of view.

About the army action in Balochistan, the statement said it was a political problem which needed political solution.

It said the only way to resolve the crisis was to establish supremacy of law, a true federal democratic struture where decisions were made by elected representatives of the people, rather than by an individual.