ISLAMABAD: Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif has rejected a perception that India was responsible for the recent floods in Pakistan.

“There is no evidence that shows that India has deliberately released water,” he said on Monday while winding up a debate in the Senate on the situation arising out of the floods.

He said it was wrong to say that Pakistan faced floods due to “water terrorism” by India. He said unusual and heavy rains in India-held Kashmir and Pakistan at the same time had caused the floods in rivers and the government had only two to three hours responding time.

The response from the minister came after PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar asked the government to clarify the position because a “conscious effort” was being made from some sections of society to hold India responsible for the release of water that caused floods in the country. He said if India had committed “water terrorism”, the matter should be raised at an appropriate forum.

Khawaja Asif, who also holds the portfolio of defence, also refuted the claim made by some senators that water had been stored in Mangla Dam despite having prior information about heavy rains.

He said no such warning had been issued by the Met office. In fact, he said, the Met office had forecast less than normal rains. It informed the government in the first week of September that a system was about to enter the country in a few days that could cause unusual and heavy rains.

He said Mangla Dam saw a rise of 11 feet in the water level between the night of Sept 3 and 4, which had never happened in the past.

Mr Asif reiterated the government’s stated policy on the issue of Kalabagh Dam, saying it would not be built without a consensus among the provinces.

During the debate on floods, he also spoke on the issue of loadshedding and power projects. He said that with the construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam, the life of Tarbela Dam would be increased up to 35 years.

The minister alleged that a number of power projects with China had been delayed because to the Islamabad sit-in.

Earlier, senators criticised the government for its failure to devise a long-term planning to cope with the floods.

Mohsin Leghari said the Federal Flood Commission, National Disaster Management Authority and other provincial departments were doing nothing.

MQM’s Tahir Mashhadi stressed the need for establishing local bodies to deal with the floods.

ANP’s Zahid Khan expressed concern over non-allocation of funds for the construction of Munda Dam.

Earlier, Farhatullah Babar introduced a bill seeking to empower the members of parliament to punish officials or others for their breach of privilege.

The bill — Members of the Parliament (Powers, Immunities and Privileges Act 2014 — suggests punishment of imprisonment and fine for 26 various acts of breach of privileges, giving no right of appeal to the convicted persons in any court of law against the decision of the chairmen of the standing

committees.

Mr Babar was allowed to move the bill after a number of senators, particularly those from the Awami National Party (ANP), supported the move, saying the chairmen of the committees were facing great difficulties in summoning government officials and unable to take any action against them for not appearing before the committees because of the absence of any law.

ANP’s Zahid Khan cited a number of examples and said that when he was chairman of the committee on water and power he had failed to summon various functionaries. He said that even the ministers did not attend the meetings, what to talk about bureaucrats or other officials.

Under the bill, any arrested or detained member will be allowed to attend the meetings of standing committees. It also suggests that “any meeting convened by the government or semi-government institution or autonomous body, in which a member (of parliament) is supposed to participate shall be presided over by the member.”

The bill bars the authorities from taking any member of parliament under preventive detention “during the period commencing 14 days before the commencement of a session and ending 14 days after the conclusion of the session; and during the period commencing seven days before the commencement of the meeting of a committee of which he is a member and ending seven days after the conclusion of the meeting”.

The bill authorises the members “to visit jails, hospitals and dispensaries and health, population planning and social welfare centres and educational institutions for girls, after prior intimation to the authorities concerned; and exercise full powers of justice of peace”.

It says: “The parliament or any committee may direct any person to appear before the parliament or the committee, as the case may be, and to produce or cause to be produced any paper, book, record or document in the possession of or under the control of such persons.”

If a person does not appear before the parliament or the committee at the time and place mentioned, “the presiding officer or, as the case may be, the chairman of the committee, may, upon being satisfied that the summon was duly served or that the person to whom the summon is directed wilfully avoids service, issue a warrant for this being apprehended and brought, at a time and place to be stated in the warrant, before the parliament or the committee, as the case may be”.

Published in Dawn, October 21st , 2014