SWABI, Jan 16: District president of Awami National Party’s women wing Dr Yasmeen Jaseem has said that followers of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and other political parties belonging to three small provinces would never allow construction of the Kalabagh dam.

Talking to journalists at her residence here on Monday, she said the controversial project was planned for the benefit of the big brother at the cost of Pukhtuns and those who advocated its construction wanted to further divide the Pukhtun community.

“The Kalabagh dam will change the whole structure of the province and the already divided Pukhtun community will be further beleaguered,” she said, adding “the supporters of this controversial project are misleading the people.”

She said that the advocates of Kalabagh were looking towards their own interest at the cost of the Pukhtun community. “Not only Swabi and Nowshera but the whole Pukhtunkhwa would be affected by Kalabagh,” she said.

In reply to a question, she said the people of Swabi, Mardan, Charsadda, Peshawar and Nowshera would not allow the construction of this project and even the assemblies of Pukhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh had already passed resolutions against the construction of this dam.

About President Musharraf’s public meeting in the district on Saturday, she said that the whole state machinery was being used by the government and everybody knew about the actual situation.

The Swabi PML-Q leaders used its soil against the locals but the followers of Bacha Khan had already informed them about the intrigues hitched against them by a group of entrepreneurs.

“The demand of the current situation is that all Pukhtun tribes and all other communities in the small provinces should unite and shun their differences in the best interest of their people,” she said.

She said it seems that the government wants to use the “Punjab card” influencing the people’s mind and preparing the grounds for the next general election.

Tehsil Swabi Nazim Hanif Jadoon and Tehsil Chota Lahore Nazim Shahroom Khan said on Monday that they were not invited to attend the president’s public meeting.

Musharraf was not the president of a particular group, said Mr Hanif.