GILGIT, Feb 4: a large number of people of Chilas town, protesting against the Bhasha dam project the other day, asked engineers and Wapda staff to stop survey work on the site of the dam, about 177kms south of Gilgit.

“They (Wapda) should better leave our area voluntarily before they are made to leave by force,” angry protesters said while reiterating their opposition to the dam.

The protesters condemned the arrest of anti-dam activists from Diamer in Islamabad. In Friday sermons clerics and political leaders again demanded withdrawal of the decision to build the Bhasha dam. They said the dam would inundate major parts of Diamer district and displace more than 25,000 people of 32 villages along the Indus. The Anti-Bhasha Dam Movement is headed by Maulana Mohammad Sadiq.

They said that they had planned more protests and rallies in Diamer and the movement would soon spread to other districts of Northern Areas. In a resolution, the Anti-Bhasha Dam Movement asked local contractors not to file tenders for construction of Wapda Colony in Chilas and warned them that they would be declared enemies of the people of Diamer if they did so.