RAWALPINDI, Dec 10: Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Saturday that President General Pervez Musharraf would make an announcement about the construction of Kalabagh dam in the next few days. The minister was speaking to reporters after attending the convocation of Dhoke Hassu women’s college. As the country requires more water resources, he said, “the construction of the dam has become necessary”.

“President Gen Pervez Musharraf will soon announce construction of the dam. It is time for personal likes and dislikes to be set aside. We should take decisions that are in the best interest of the country,” Mr Ahmed said.

He said it was in the country’s interest to go ahead with the Kalabagh dam and warned that “if it wasn’t built the coming generations would never forgive us”.

The minister scotched rumours of a rupture in the PML-Q, saying Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervez Illahi were a reality and both their apparent and hidden enemies would soon face defeat.

In reply to another question, he said that the opposition instead of taking up people’s problems had “chosen to concentrate on non-issues”. In this connection he drew attention to “the opposition’s role during the recent earthquake”. In future, he said, no-one is likely to make the mistake of voting for opposition parties and their rejectionist policies.

Commenting on President Musharraf’s participation in the OIC meeting, he said the president had played the role of a representative of the whole Ummah. The idea of reorganizing the OIC also came from the president, the minister said. “This will help resolve the issues of Palestine and Kashmir,” he said.

APP adds: The minister accused the opposition of adopting different tactics to obstruct ongoing relief and rehabilitation efforts for quake victims as it had no agenda for public service.

He said that although the government had invited opposition parties to work jointly with it in this hour of trial their approach had been negative and disappointing. “No opposition with such a negative approach is found around the globe,” he said.

Mr Ahmad said the opposition has been toying with the media and has not been serious at all about undertaking rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the quake-hit areas.