PESHAWAR, Dec 14: The chief of the Tehrik-i-Istiqlal has asked President Gen Pervez Musharraf to immediately initiate construction of Kalabagh dam to save the country from economic crises.

Speaking at a seminar on Kalabagh dam here on Saturday evening, Rehmat Khan Wardak said that some of the political parties favoured the construction of Kalabagh dam when they were in the government.

But when they sat in the opposition they started opposing its construction just to achieve their political motives.

“These parties did not have any issue to do politics except Kalabagh dam and if the dam is constructed these political parties will be eliminated from society,” he commented.

He added that after the construction of the dam more than 20 million hectors of land would be retrieved throughout the country which would bring economic prosperity to the country.

The Frontier province would get more benefits from the construction of Kalabagh dam and the NWFP would be able to grow its required quantity of wheat, Mr Wardak maintained.

He said Tehrik-i-Istiqlal had launched a campaign in favour of the Kalabagh dam construction and in this regard two seminars in Karachi and Lahore had already been arranged. After Peshawar, seminars on the same topic would be organised in Quetta and Islamabad.