PESHAWAR, Sept 8: The Awami National Party has said that the army should stay away from the controversy surrounding the Kalabagh dam project, warning that its involvement could lead to dismemberment of the country.

“The army should keep itself away from the controversy, otherwise, its involvement will not only bring a bad name to it, it could also lead to the country’s dismemberment,” ANP’s senior vice-president Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said here on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference, Mr Bilour said if the project was given a go-ahead Pakistan could again experience the 1971-like situation when the army’s interference in the Eastern Wing led to the country’s break up.

He said that his party would not allow the execution of the disputed project at any cost because it would cause devastation in five central districts of the Frontier province.

Mr Bilour, who also heads the ANP’s recently constituted anti-Kalabagh dam committee, said the ANP had also established contacts with all important religio-political parties in the country to apprise them of the devastating effects of the dam and to persuade them against its construction.

He said the ANP was planning to hold a seminar on the Kalabagh dam on September 14 as part of its countrywide campaign to resist the government’s intention to construct the dam.

In this respect, he added, senior leaders of Pakistan People’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and Jamaat-i-Islami had been extended invitation.

Similarly, he said, Federal Minister for Water and Power Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao would also be invited to the seminar.

Leaders from Balochistan, including Abdul Hai Baloch, Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Akhter Mengal, had also been contacted to solicit their support against the construction of Kalabagh dam.

Reiterating his party’s stand on the issue, Mr Bilour said that instead of constructing the Kalabagh dam, the government should build a dam at Bhasha — upstream Tarbela dam.