PESHAWAR, Oct 15: The Awami National Party (ANP) plans to launch a mass mobilization campaign and woo nationalist forces of Sindh and Balochistan to wage a joint struggle against the construction of a large dam at Kalabagh after Ramazan , according to sources in the party.
Prompted by President Pervez Musharraf's recent announcement about making a final decision by the end of the current year after construction of a large dam either at Bhasha or Kalabagh, the ANP held a public meeting in Peshawar on Tuesday and is making preparations to launch a province wide movement.
Though the party, according to information gathered from the ANP leaders, is not clear about the federal government's next move on the Kalabagh dam project (KDP), it has made up its mind to go to masses to solicit their support for its stand against the disputed dam project.
"I don't think that the federal government is in a position to add to its woes by deciding to go for constructing a large dam at Kalabagh instead of Bhasha," said Farid Khan Toofan, the general secretary of the NWFP chapter of ANP.
He said that the ruling coalition was passing through a difficult time and confronted with numerous controversies because of its domestic and foreign policies. Hence, choosing one more controversy by going for the Kalabagh dam would not be an easy option for Islamabad, he maintained. "But you never know, in these depressing moments the rulers may go berserk and opt for initiating work on the Kalabagh dam," said Farid Toofan, adding that "in such a case the ANP would not sit as a silent spectator."
ANP's additional secretary-general Afrasyab Khattak and vice president Haji Mohammed Adeel, when contacted, said that after holding 'an impressive' public meeting at Peshawar on Oct 12, the party would now hold such meetings at the headquarters of all the districts of the province.
"A decision to this effect was already taken by the executive committee of the ANP's NWFP chapter," said Mr Khattak, adding that "there is no confusion in that (launching mass contact movement) as party has decided its future course of action if the government goes for the controversial project".
It was clear, added Mr Khattak, that the ANP would initiate mass awareness campaign if the federal government decided to go for the Kalabagh dam. Similarly, Haji Adeel said, the party was set to organize an anti-Kalabagh dam seminar after Ramazan, in which leaders of like -minded political parties and nationalist forces, from Sindh and Balochistan, would be invited," in an effort to develop cohesion among forces who are opposed to the construction of Kalabagh dam".
Mr Khattak claimed that the seminar would attract like-minded political forces. The construction of Kalabagh dam, he added, was not the issue of nationalist forces only. As, he maintained, political parties like PPP was also against it.
"PPP is leading the anti-Kalabagh dam front in Sindh, therefore, it would be wrong to say that only the nationalists are against the plan," he said. He said that the ANP would also apprise masses about the negative affects of constructing a large dam at Kalabagh, which would cause adverse effective to the agriculture sector in five of the most fertile districts of the central NWFP.