The project never saw the light of day despite being extremely beneficial and feasible.
ISLAMABAD: Senator Sherry Rehman in her article “Three tsunamis for Pakistan” raised many pertinent questions. If the British could build the largest system in the world in Punjab, why can’t the post-colonial governments focus on structural needs instead of irrelevant things? She went on to say that the British also introduced the railway system and connected all big cities of the country via a railway network. Those who captured power, after the exit of British, neither had the fiscal space nor the capacity to comprehend complexities of economics and problems linked with it. Senior leaders who fought for freedom from the British could not live long enough to focus on the structural needs of the newly country. Unfortunately, the political parties that filled the gap were without manifestos to be followed for social welfare, uplift of the masses and strengthening of the state. These parties did not develop from the grassroots level but tended to be top-down power structures. Therefore, they were mainly unaware of the issues of the masses. At some point in time even with the realisation that Pakistan would likely face acute water and electricity shortages in the future, our ruling elite failed to complete projects of national importance because of selfish and short-sighted politics. For example, the proposed Kalabagh Dam, which would have been a great source of water for irrigation in all provinces and would have helped to generate cheap electricity, was very selfishly opposed by narrow-minded politicians. These politicians used the politics of fear and division fanning ethnic sensitivities to make this project controversial just for personal power. The project never saw the light of day despite being extremely beneficial and feasible.
Our politicians must shun their narrow ethnic political leverages and educate the public on the need to build a consensus so that these dams can be built.
Raja Shafaatullah
Published in The Express Tribune, March 9th, 2020.
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