Punjab Irrigation Minister Kazim Pirzada has said that the controversial Kalabagh Dam project should be built, amidst the controversy surrounding the construction of six new canals on the Indus River.

The Sindh Assembly had in 2012 adopted four resolutions against the construction of the Kalabagh dam, which was also opposed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan through resolutions passed by their assemblies.

In September 2018, making a policy statement in the National Assembly, then-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan were opposed to the Kalabagh dam, and the government respected their view.

Speaking in Dawn News programme ‘Doosra Rukh’, Pirzada said: “Yes, the Kalabagh Dam should be built, 100 per cent it should be built.

“… As far as the objection by Sindh is concerned that their water will be stopped, we are only saying when there is a flood situation and water is in abundance it should be stored.”

When reminded by the host that all three provincial assemblies apart from Punjab have adopted resolutions, the Punjab irrigation minister responded, “We are doing politics on this issue but not making a logical argument.

“If a reservoir is made and Punjab is the upper riparian, then Sindh and Balochistan being the lower riparian provinces will be the next beneficiaries and its beneficial for the whole country.”

Speaking about the controversy surrounding the construction of the six new canals, Pirzada echoed Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari’s claims that President Asif Ali Zardari had approved the project.

“As President and PPP leader, he (President Zardari) has given the go ahead [for the project] and it has been discussed with him. The media has reported on it as well.”

Punjab and Sindh ministers on Thursday had engaged in a verbal spat over the government’s canals project, a day after PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari rejected it while addressing a rally in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, terming it “unilateral”.

Part of the Green Pakistan Initiative, the ambitious Cholistan canals project aims to irrigate a total of 4.8 million acres (1.9 million hectares) of barren land by constructing six canals — two each in Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab. Five of these canals will be built on the Indus River, with the sixth one on the Sutlej River, supplying approximately 4,120 cusecs of water to irrigate the Cholistan desert in Punjab.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Chief of the Army Staff Gen Asim Munir inaugurated the Cholistan project to irrigate south Punjab’s lands on February 15 amid public uproar and strong reservations in Sindh.

The next month, the Sindh Assembly unanimously passed a resolution against the construction of six new canals on the Indus River.

The resolution demanded an immediate halt to any plans, activities or work related to the controversial project until an agreement with all provincial governments, particularly Sindh, was reached to ensure that the rights of the province were fully protected and respected.

Sindh minister slams call to built Kalabagh Dam

Responding to Pirzada, Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro called his Punjab counterpart’s statements on Kalabagh Dam an “insult to the provincial assemblies and the people of the provinces”.

In a statement, Shoro highlighted that the dam project had “already been technically rejected by all provincial assemblies and water experts”.

He questioned: “When the country’s existing dams are lying empty, where will the water come from to fill the Kalabagh Dam?”

The minister further said that due to the Indus River System Authority’s (Irsa) “incompetence, water is not reaching downstream Kotri, which has completely destroyed the delta and left Sindh’s lands barren”.

Advocating for the Kalabagh Dam at this time exposes Pirzada’s “ignorance”, Shoro said. “Sindh’s water issue is not political but technical. By politicising it, Punjab’s ministers are insulting the people of Sindh,” he added.