January 26, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 25, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 25: Speakers at a meeting on Wednesday, arguing that no surplus water was available in the Indus, demanded that no new dams be constructed as this would badly affect the lower riparian. They were expressing their views at a discussion titled National Dialogue over the report of Technical Committee on Water Resources by A. N. G. Abbasi, which was organized by an NGO, Actionaid.

They speakers paid tributes to the people of Sindh whose unity on the issue, they observed, had forced the army-backed government to withdraw its plan to construct the most controversial Kalabagh Dam.

Labour Party Pakistan chief Tariq Farooq, Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party leader Dr Qadir Magsi, Yusuf Mastikhan, Dr Ali Ahmad Rind, Mukhtiar Shilgri, former irrigation secretary Idrees Rajput, Naseer Memon, Sikander Brohi and Qazi Abdul Majeed were among those who spoke at the meeting which was conducted by Adam Malik.

They said that political forces and masses in Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan, as well as many people in Punjab, all opposed the Kalabagh Dam project, the resistance mainly came from Sindh even the ruling party leaders and supporters expressed their reservations over the project.

They said that Gen Musharraf was spreading misinformation in Punjab by telling people that the overflowing rain and flood water in the Indus was going waste by making its way into the sea. They described his contention based on the selected portions of the Abbasi report as ‘half truth’ saying that the reference was out of context and more harmful. They stressed the immediate need for creating awareness regarding the issue on a mass level in Punjab.

One of the speakers, however, suggested that Punjab as a whole should not be condemned on this issue because the masses and intelligentsia, who had supported the Sindh’s stand on dams could be misled again by the vested interests.

He pointed out that a number of demonstrations had been organized in Pujab against the Kalabagh Dam recently and the protesters had been subjected to brutal treatment by police. It was the present ruling elite and Punjabi chauvinism that deserved condemnation, he added.

Another speaker told the participants that the British rulers in 1901 had rejected the plan that envisaged construction of a reservoir on Sutlej River and held that it was a tributary of the Indus and any reservoir built upstream would affect the lower riparian adversely.

They said that the successive military rulers had taken wrong decisions owing to which the country had suffered. “Gen Ayub Khan sold three rivers to India, Gen Yahya broke the country, Gen Zia promoted religious fanaticism starting an unending series of killings, and now Gen Musharraf wants to eliminate Sindhis by building water reservoirs and canals upstream to manipulate water flow.”

The speakers noted that the present government was planning several small dams on the rivers, which, in fact, were tributaries of the Indus. Ultimately, they added, water would be stored in these reservoirs and the flow down to the Indus would drop considerably.

They also advised masses to remain vigilant as the rulers, they apprehended, might again make attempts to start construction of the Kalabagh Dam after some time.

They stressed that the 1991 water accord must be protected and kept intact while that the federal government should be pressed to take effective steps to ensure that the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) operated strictly within the scope of the accord.

They said that the existing basis of water distribution which was based on three scenarios being a flagrant violation of the 1991 water accord should be changed immediately and the distribution be made on the basis of the accord and the daily statements as approved by the Council of Common Interests.