MUZAFFARABAD, Sept 9: AJK Legislative Assembly here on Monday formed a seven-member committee to develop a consensus on the Mangla Dam extension.

The assembly, which met with its Speaker Sardar Siab Khalid in the chair, took up the issue on a resolution tabled by opposition’s Ms Gulzar Fatima who claimed that the plan had sent ripples among the Kashmiris living across the world “because neither the Kashmiri leadership was consulted nor the people of Mirpur were taken into confidence before taking the controversial decision.”

She pointed out that hundreds of thousands of people from Mirpur, who had settled in Europe and the United States, were playing a pivotal role to strengthen the economy of Pakistan and projection of the Kashmir issue.

All of them, she said, were opposed to the project as they did not want their homes and the graves of near and dear ones submerged.

She urged the federal government to review its decision and added: “Instead of thrusting it upon the Kashmiris, the government should go for reproach.”

People’s Party legislator also asked the federal government to give up one-sided policy on the issue, and warned that demonstration of “contradictory attitudes” regarding the extension plan and construction of Kalabagh Dam could have disastrous repercussions.

“We cannot afford such adventurism at such a crucial juncture of our national history,” she said. After her statement, around 19 legislators of the ruling party and opposition expressed their views on the extension of Mangla Dam.

The opposition legislators, including their leader Barrister Sultan Mahmood, said there was no need to raise the height of the dam, particularly when many other alternatives were available.

Some of them warned that if the project was launched without satisfying the people of Mirpur, the protests would spread to Europe, America and the Middle East.

Mr Mahmood said he wanted to keep it on record that he had not been properly consulted on the upraising of the dam when he was prime minister.

He said to have believed that the Wapda functionaries wanted to waste Rs60 billion allocated for the “worthless project” and reiterated his demand that the plan be shelved till the elections in the occupied Kashmir.

The ex-premier said there were reports that the ground-breaking ceremony was being held on Sept 24, and added that he could not help lament the shortsightedness of the federal government’s advisers.

“On that day, India will be conducting second phase of sham polls, and we have organized rallies to condemn it. I wonder why they want to do things as could divert public anger from India.”

In his speech, Public Accounts Committee Chairman Chaudhry Tariq Farooq emphasized that the “decisions should be made in the house and not somewhere else.”

Muslim Conference chief Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan said there would not be any compromise on the affectees’ problem.

The committee include Sardar Attique Ahmed, Industries Minister Chaudhry Masood Khalid, Ms Nahid Tariq, Sahibzada Attiqur Rehman Faizpuri of treasury benches while Barrister Sultan Mahmood, Chaudhry Arshad and Chaudhry Abdul Majid will represent the opposition in the body.

RESOLUTION: Earlier, the house endorsed a boycott call by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) against the forthcoming mock polls on Sept 16, in the occupied Kashmir.