PAKISTAN is surrendering 3,600 megawatts of electricity every year and eight million acre feet of water. If the Kalabagh dam is built, it would add billions to the kitty of the Sindh government from cash crops, its share of hydro electricity and two million acres of land that would be cultivated in Sindh. Employment activities and other economic benefits, taxes and levies would be significant.

It is a wrong belief that silt from the Indus alone is a cementing agent. Sooner or later we have to build retaining walls and put in place coastal engineering measures to stop encroachment of the sea — dam or no dam.

The Netherlands is a good example. It is a low-lying country. Dams and retaining walls have been built to stop sea encroachment. We have to do the same in the Indus delta that the Dutch have done to protect their mainland.

I have heard nearly in all districts of Sindh the same story: anyone who announces that he would set up an industry will get a note demanding money . Failure to pay would result in his being kidnapped. I haven’t seen anyone from Sindh protesting against this. So no industry can be set up in Sindh, no income can accrue from the Kalabagh dam or from tourism as many intending tourists fear being kidnapped.

A Japanese intellectual told me that many Japanese wanted to visit Moenjodaro but they won’t because their government calls Moenjodaro a high-risk area ever since a Japanese tourist was kidnapped there.

Azmat Ansari

Karachi

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2014