Sindh unites against Gandapur's Kalabagh Dam support

Mainstream, nationalist parties condemn K-P CM's remarks, term project 'threat to federation'

HYDERABAD:

The Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur has sparked a wave of criticism from political parties in Sindh after voicing support for the controversial Kalabagh Dam project. Leaders from mainstream and nationalist parties condemned Gandapur's remarks, calling the dam a threat to the federation and the environment.

Sindh President of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT) President Ayaz Latif Palijo, Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM) Chairman Riaz Ali Chandio, and other prominent figures unanimously rejected Gandapur's stance on the project.

Even the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh distanced the party from Gandapur's comments, calling the project a "dead horse." He reaffirmed that the party had opposed Kalabagh during Imran Khan's tenure and said Gandapur's views do not reflect the position of the party's leadership in KP. "As the provincial president, I reaffirm that PTI will never endorse any project that weakens the federation or harms the provinces," he said. "Dams are necessary, but Kalabagh dam is not acceptable."

Khuhro, who also chairs the Sindh Assembly's Public Accounts Committee, asserted that Kalabagh would render Sindh barren and cause irreparable damage. "Perhaps he doesn't know that the KP Assembly has also unanimously rejected the project-or maybe he was not even in politics back then," he remarked.

He added that the Kalabagh Dam has no connection with water released into Punjab's rivers by India, which does not pass through the Kalabagh site. He called instead for work on alternate dam projects like Bhasha, Mohmand, and Diamer to be completed.

JSM's Riaz Chandio warned that any dam or canal built on the Indus River would destroy the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions in Sindh. "Such projects will undoubtedly cause economic and environmental disaster," he said, citing the ongoing devastation in Thatta, Sujawal, and Badin where seawater intrusion has claimed nearly three million acres of land.

QAT President Ayaz Latif Palijo called Gandapur's statement an act of "enmity with the people of Sindh, Balochistan, and KP as well." He advised CM KP and Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori not to "attack the Indus.

"Kalabagh is hundreds of kilometres away from the Ravi. Punjab's rivers lie on plains, unlike Kalabagh," he said. He urged the federal and Punjab governments to stop misleading the nation about Kalabagh and demanded the immediate removal of artificial embankments in Sindh, where a super flood is anticipated in the coming days.