ISLAMABAD, Dec 13: Opposition parties on Tuesday blasted President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s remarks on the controversial Kalabagh dam and accused him of trying to pit smaller provinces against the Punjab.

Talking to newspaper editors in Karachi on Sunday Gen Musharraf had indicated that Kalabagh dam will be built even without a consensus among the four provinces. However, the president said he was ready to give constitutional guarantees. Gen Musharraf had also stated that Punjab would topple any future government, which dared to halt the dam’s construction.

Reacting to the president’s statement, Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Asfandyar Wali Khan in a statement here Tuesday said, “Gen Musharraf is committing the same mistakes which were committed by the military regime in 1971 when the erstwhile West Pakistan was pitted against the East Pakistan resulting in the creation of Bangladesh. The only difference is that now the present regime is pitting Punjab against the other three provinces”.

The ANP senator said that Gen Musharraf had closed all doors for negotiations and consensus as according to media reports, Gen Musharraf had stated that he would construct the dam whether any one agreed to it or not. “The general has taken his decisions, now we will take ours,” Mr Khan said.

People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar also denounced the Gen Musharraf’s statement that he would give constitutional guarantees to Sindh against any injustice. “No one will ever take seriously the constitutional guarantees offered by a dictator who himself has subverted the Constitution with impunity,” Senator Babar said in a statement.

“When the nation’s constitution is repeatedly subverted and re-written according to the whims of a few, even fools will laugh at the assurance of constitutional guarantees,” he added.

Recalling Gen Musharraf’s “broken promises” made in the past, the PPP senator said the latest promise of no injustice to Sindh sounded “pathetically hollow.” Gen Musharraf had solemnly promised at different times not to become president, not to hold referendum and not to keep military uniform beyond December 31, 2004 and broke all of them at will, he said.

The PPP spokesman said Gen Musharraf was using the Kalabagh dam issue only to keep himself afloat by dividing the nation and diverting public attention. “Every military dictator in the past has sought to divide the people by raising the Kalabagh dam issue to weaken opposition and the present dictatorship is no exception,” he said.

By asserting that Punjab will not let any government opposed to the dam, the general has tried to pit the smaller provinces against the biggest federating unit, he said, adding the people of Punjab would never endanger the federation by building a dam rejected by three of the federating units.