PESHAWAR, Oct 30: Awami National Party’s leader Asfandyar Wali Khan has expressed concern over the government’s plan to siphon 1,000 million gallons a day off River Indus to supply water to Islamabad and has said that it will deprive the NWFP of its already dwindling water resources.

In a statement issued on Monday, he said the ANP would never allow any programme that might convert the NWFP into a desert, adding that his party was ready to render any sacrifice to protect the Pakhtuns’ assets.

He said that the province had already been deprived of its fair share of water resources after water was diverted for the Ghazi Baroutha hydroelectric power project, adding that no other such conspiracy would be tolerated against the Pakhtuns.

He said that the water scheme would negatively affect the province’s agriculture-based economy and neither the army nor Islamabad’s Capital Development Authority was competent to take such vital decisions.