KARACHI, Jan 20: Former Speaker Illahi Bakhsh Soomro said on Thursday that the dam controversy was still not over because the government had decided to build five big dams in 10 years time.

“The issue of dam is primarily a technical issue. It has unnecessarily been politicized,” he said while speaking at a seminar, organized by the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi.

The conflict between the upper riparian and the lower riparian was an age-old, and it had to do with the reservation of the lower riparian region in case of any reduction of water supply downstream towards the lower riparian.

The essential question was that the construction of dams had displaced all over the world-around 7 million people. The loss of water at Mangla and Tarbela Dam was around 14.2 million feet; whereas Kala Bagh dam’s storage capacity would be around 6.2 million feet. There was a need to utilize and chanelize the already available water in the most efficient manner, he emphasized.

Building dams was no solution to all the problems. River Indus happens to be, he said, a river where there was a great amount of silt therefore the water gets muddy.

Speaking on the prospects of smaller dams, he said that smaller dams could be built on other rivers too, like Jhelum and Chenab rivers. He questioned the building of smaller dam on river Indus only. But the construction of Kala Bagh dam could hinder water from coming downstream.

He was of the view that Pakistan was an agricultural country and any mishandling of water resources would affect the entire country. This issue had already created provincial disharmony. This had happened, he indicated, due to improper treatment of a technical issue.

While responding to a question, raised by Prof Moonis Ahmar concerning the pervasive atmosphere of distrust and misgivings, Mr Soomro said it was due to lack of trust and harmony and most importantly provincial autonomy.

In his concluding remarks, Moonis Ahmar suggested exploring alternatives sources of energy, particularly nuclear, solar and from coal.

Since Pakistan is a nuclear state, it should use its nuclear capability for energy purposes. He also emphasized on building trust and confidence among provinces for proper management and resolution of water and energy shortages.

The seminar was attended by Prof. Dr Arif Kamal, Chairman, Mathematics department Dr Mutahir Ahmad, Amir Hameed, Naeem Ahmad, Faheem Uddin and Nausheen Wasi.