ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: The federal cabinet which met here on Wednesday with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in the chair decided to address reservations of certain sections in the ruling party and coalition partners on the Kalabagh dam.
Briefing media personnel on the meeting, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said that people opposed to the Kalabagh dam would be contacted for the purpose. President Pervez Musharraf, he added, would be launching the second phase of his meeting with representatives of Sindh.
Insiders said that a couple of ministers who wanted to speak on the issue were asked to state their viewpoints in the next meeting when three reports on the need for water reservoirs were expected to be presented to the cabinet.
Asked about the position taken by Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim and the MQM, Sheikh Rashid said all of them would be persuaded and ‘hopefully convinced’ about the need for building the Kalabagh dam.
When asked whether the decision to build the dam would be announced by the president or it would be announced in parliament, he said the president, parliament and prime minister were the same.
He said the cabinet was of the considered opinion that there was dire need for new water reservoirs in the country, but at the same time it desired that all stakeholders should be taken on board before an announcement.
When asked why was the Bhasha dam not being built first, the minister said it would mean complete destruction of 150-mile Karakoram Highway and would require construction of 350 miles of new road network.
He brushed aside a threat by the Awami National Party to quit assemblies if the construction of the Kalabagh dam was announced and said: “I have also read the statement”.
While the prime minister is expected to invite the opposition leadership soon for an in-camera briefing, reports of experts, parliamentarians and the Abbasi committee will be made public and presented in parliament after their endorsement by the cabinet.
The cabinet endorsed the new agreement reached between the government and Etisalat of the UAE on privatization of the PTCL after a briefing given by Privatisation Minister Dr Hafiz Sheikh.
The government admitted complications erupting in the sale deal on various issues but the highest bidder’s conditions were accepted fearing a loss of $1.2 billion in case the PTCL was perforce awarded to second bidder.
The cabinet considered the refusal of the opposition to join the proposed parliamentary committee on earthquake relief and said the government wanted to assign to the committee the job of watchdog, the opposition demanded administrative powers which could not be given to the committee.
While discussing the relief and reconstruction of quake-hit areas, the cabinet was told that Rs17 billion and Rs14 billion had so far been distributed as compensation in AJK and the NWFP, respectively. Besides 750,000 tents, 5 million blankets and quilts have been distributed, 96 per cent of the telecommunications system has been restored and 70pc electricity supply network made functional.
Sheikh Rashid stated that no military operation was being conducted in Balochistan and that security forces were acting only against the elements who had fired rockets.
He dismissed as rubbish a suggestion that US Vice-President Dick Cheney had visited Pakistan to put pressure for the recognition of Israel, and said that Pakistan had already made it clear that it would not recognize Israel till the state of Palestine was established.
Answering a question about reports of IPPs’ (independent power producers) involvement in financing the anti-Kalabagh dam campaign, the minister said such allegations needed to be investigated.