It is one thing for K-P, Sindh to oppose the Kalabagh Dam for cogent reasons, but on flimsy grounds is unacceptable.
LAHORE: The provincial chief of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) has said that through the construction of the Kalabagh Dam, Punjab will gain control over the water share of the Pashtun nation. How he has arrived at this astounding conclusion defies all logic. The Indus River and most of its tributaries flow through Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) before entering Punjab. How can the lower riparian usurp the water of the upper riparian?
The provincial chief of the party has also said that only the Tarbela Dam is acceptable to K-P. Obviously he does not know that K-P is getting less than five per cent of water from the Tarbela Dam, while Sindh is getting 70 per cent of the share. K-P can get its full share of 14 per cent only through the right bank canal at the Kalabagh Dam.
On the other hand, Sindh opinion-makers believe that the Kalabagh Dam will reduce the flow in the Indus and Punjab will take too much water from it. Dams are built the world over to increase the availability of water, not to reduce it. The Indus River System Authority will operate the Kalabagh Dam just as it is operating the Mangla and the Tarbela dams, and Punjab will get only its allotted share of water and no more than that.
It is one thing for K-P and Sindh to oppose the Kalabagh Dam for cogent reasons, but to do so on flimsy grounds is unacceptable as they are harming their own provinces as much as the others.
Engr Khurshid Anwer
Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2014.
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