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The petition, filed by senior Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar on behalf of journalist Zia Shahid and former food and agriculture minister of Punjab Sultan Ali Chaudhry, sought a court declaration that it was an inalienable right of citizens of Pakistan and a binding duty of the state that the controversy over Kalabagh dam be decided one way or the other in accordance with the Constitution.
The four provinces and the authorities concerned, including Wapda, have been made respondent in the petition.
Citing experts' reports, Barrister Zafar said the country's water level would drop to 1,000 M3 per capita in 2025 which was considered to be 'extreme water scarcity', while Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs were rapidly losing their storage capacities because of sedimentation. “This is pushing Pakistan towards a national disaster, making the construction of Kalabagh dam imperative.”
He also cited statements of past and present prime ministers, chief ministers and governors and contradictory resolutions passed by provincial assemblies, including that of the Punjab Assembly on Oct 5, to plead that Kalabagh dam was a dispute among the provincial governments and the Supreme Court had an exclusive jurisdiction to settle such disputes under Article 184 (1) of the Constitution.
Barrister Zafar argued that utilisation of water by building dams for the welfare of citizens was a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution and by not building the dam the federal government was violating such rights of millions of Pakistanis.
As a result of the Indus Water Treaty 1960, the petition said, Pakistan had lost water of Ravi, Beas and Sutlej and because of constant infighting had been unable to fully utilise water of the remaining three rivers — Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. On the other hand, it said, India had built 4,291 dams and planned to build another 695 even on Pakistani rivers of Chenab and Jhelum.
“Pakistan has only been able to build Tarbela and Mangla dams while Kalabagh remains shelved as a pipedream because of internal differences,” it said. As a result, Pakistan wasted 38 MAF (million acres feet) of river water every year into the sea.
“If we want to safeguard our future generation from living in a dry, famine-stricken and barren Pakistan and counter the sales pitch of India, we have to build (Kalabagh) dam and, that too, immediately,” the petition said.
