PESHAWAR, Aug 23: The Awami National Party has asked President General Pervez Musharraf to abandon the idea of constructing the controversial Kalabagh dam, saying its building would amount to the destruction of three smaller provinces at the cost of Punjab.
The party would not allow the construction of the dam, as it would swamp the people of the NWFP, water would be depleted in Balochistan and Sindh would turn into a desert, said ANP provincial General Secretary Farid Khan Toofan at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday.
Flanked by party leaders Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Bashir Ahmad Bilour and others, Mr Toofan said the construction of the Kalabagh dam was a matter of life and death for Pukhtuns, and appealed to all leaders of the political parties to stand up against the government move of constructing the dam to save the people from getting submerged.
He appreciated the statements issued against the construction of the dam by NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani and MMA Secretary-General Maulana Fazlur Rehman, saying it was the duty of all leaders to oppose the project.
Recalling that at the time of overthrowing the Nawaz government President Musharraf had announced that he would never allow its construction without the consensus of all the four provinces, he charged that the president had gone back on his words.
“What has compelled Musharraf to issue such controversial statements at this time regarding the construction of the Kalabagh dam. It will only sow the seeds of discard among the people against the army,” he said, and added that people would think that the army was pushing the construction of the dam to appease Punjab.
Mr Toofan, who is also former provincial minister, claimed that the army wanted to economically hurt the country at the behest of Punjab.
Setting aside the impression being created that according to the engineers the construction of the dam would not harm any province, he said these engineers wanted to find jobs for themselves by becoming “yes-men” of the government.
“We do not accept the reports of the so-called engineers. They have double standards as they had termed the Kalabagh dam damaging when they briefed us, but now in their briefing to the federal government they say the project is feasible,” he observed.
The country, Mr Toofan said, had already suffered dismemberment because of the “Punjabi chauvinism” and any step taken without developing national consensus on such controversial issues would further damage the federal structure of the country.
Except for Punjab, he added, all the other provinces had been vehemently opposing the Kalabagh dam and the army would become controversial in the eyes of the masses if it started its construction without taking them into confidence.
“We are not against the construction of dams, because they are meant for progress and development. But, we cannot allow the Kalabagh dam. The government should build dams at some other places,” he said.
He said the government could not defend the gas pipeline in Balochistan which was being damaged every now and then, and said the Kalabagh dam would also face a similar fate if the government did not abandon the idea of its construction.