GILGIT: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday formed a seven-member committee to address the grievances of those affected by the Diamer-Bhasha Dam project.

The decision came amid the continuation of a protest sit-in by the affected people in Chilas, the district headquarters of Diamer, which has now lasted for five consecutive days.

According to an official notification, the committee will be chaired by the minister for Kashmir Affairs, Gilgit-Baltistan and Safron, with the minister for water resources acting as the co-chair. Other members of the committee include the GB chief minister and chief secretary, Kashmir Affairs, GB and Safron secretary and chairman of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda). The notification also mentioned that additional members may be co-opted if required.

The Kashmir Affairs ministry will provide secretariat support to the committee to facilitate its operations and ensure effective coordination among all relevant stakeholders.

The protest in Chilas intensified on Wednesday when demonstrators halted construction work on the periphery road of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam. The protest sit-in, which has been ongoing for five days, is part of a movement called “Give Rights and Build Dam,” led by local religious leaders. Protesters had set a two-day deadline for the implementation of their 31-point list of demands, which expired on Thursday.

Upon the expiration of the deadline, GB Home Minister Shams Lone, Minister for Forests Shah Baig and CM’s adviser Molana Sarvar Shah travelled to Chilas to negotiate with the protesters and convince them to end the protest.

The GB government representatives expressed solidarity with the protesters, informing them that the prime minister had formed a ministerial committee to begin talks, which was one of the protesters’ conditions for initiating negotiations with the government.

Following the formation of the committee, the movement’s organising body, decided to postpone their Plan B — stop all kinds of construction work at the dam site.

However, they anno­unced that the protest would continue until the newly formed federal committee engaged in negotiations.

Earlier, talking to journalists, the GB home minister acknowledged the genuine nature of the dam-affected people’s demands, adding that the protest began after Wapda failed to implement agreements with the affected communities.

The sit-in in Chilas was joined by a large number of political, religious and social activists from across the region who came to show their solidarity with the protesters.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2025