PROVINCIAL chief of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party says that through the construction of the Kalabagh dam Punjab wants to get control over the water share of the Pakhtun nation.

How he arrives at this astounding conclusion defies all logic! The Indus River and most of its tributaries flow through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before entering Punjab. How can the lower riparian usurp the water of the upper riparian?

He says that only the Tarbela dam is acceptable to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Obviously, he does not know that his province is getting less than five per cent from the Tarbela dam, while Sindh is getting 70 per cent. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa can get its full share of 14 per cent only through the right bank canal at the Kalabagh dam.

On the other hand, Sindh thinks that the Kalabagh dam will reduce the flow in the Indus, and Punjab will take too much water from it. Dams are built the world over to increase the availability of water, not reduce it. The Indus River System Authority will operate the Kalabagh dam just as it is operating Mangla and Tarbela dams, and Punjab will get only its allotted share and no more.

It is one thing for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh to oppose the Kalabagh dam for cogent reasons but to do so on flimsy grounds is illogical as they are harming their own provinces as much as the others.

Khurshid Anwer
Lahore