ISLAMABAD, March 21: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday called for raising awareness about water issues throughout the world, in general, and in Pakistan, in particular. In a message on the eve of World Water Day being observed on Wednesday, the former prime minister said solution to Pakistan water problem lied in building small dams and lining the canals throughout the country as contained in the water report prepared during the PPP government.

He said that due to global climatic and other changes the world was experiencing water shortage that had become a serious problem for more than 1 billion people or 20 per cent of the world’s population.

She said that as a basic necessity of life on earth water was crucial for sustainable development, including the preservation of environment and the alleviation of poverty and hunger.

Access to safe water was a fundamental human need and, therefore, a basic human right.

Unfortunately over one billion people in the world today were without access to safe drinking water and half of the world’s population lacked adequate water purification systems. In addition, 2.4 billion people, or 40 per cent of the world’s population, did not have access to adequate sanitation. In developing nations, 80 per cent of diseases stem from consumption of and exposure to unsafe water, killing more than 25,000 people each day, she said.

The former premier said that unfortunately the water issue in Pakistan had not been tackled properly. Only recently the regime drummed up the controversial Kalabagh Dam issue once again not to resolve the water problem but only to divert public attention form its failure on all fronts.

She said that for the last nearly three decades one military dictator or another had tried to divide the country and the people by raising Kalabagh Dam issue with a view to weakening opposition.

The former prime minister said that PPP opposed construction of the Kalabagh Dam on the grounds that first, it was against the Federal principle and therefore illegal, second it would not resolve the water issue and third it would add to the debt burden of the country crushing the common people under its weight.