Call for controversial Kalabagh dam untimely: Bilawal
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari speaks to the media during a visit to Sukkur on Sept 9. Photo: X/PPP
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said the proponents of Kalabagh dam are trying to create fissures among the provinces at a time when the country needs to confront Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assault on the Indus River.
"Ravi, Chenab and Sutlej are in flood in Punjab but I don't understand why again and again proposals of a controversial dam are being floated," he lamented while talking to the media in Sukkur on Tuesday.
The PPP chairman, accompanied by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, provincial ministers Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and Jam Khan Shoro visited Guddu and Sukkur barrages. He was briefed about the barrages and the approaching flood.
Bilawal underlined that such voices of support for Kalabagh are not only creating differences among the provinces but Pakistan's own case of the Indus Waters Treaty and the Modi government's historic attack on Sindhu is being affected.
لائیو: پاکستان پیپلزپارٹی کے چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو زرداری سکھر بیراج پر ممکنہ سیلابی صورت حال پر بریفینگ کے بعد میڈیا سے گفتگو کررہے ہیں۔ https://t.co/NLNvwItKB9
He observed that the flood is passing through three Punjab rivers, not through the Indus on which Kalabagh project is being desired.
"We want all the provinces to respond to Modi like brothers. There is no reason to fight among ourselves." He said, Modi is trying to replicate Israel's approach, which cuts off water and food supplies to Palestine. "Modi wants to either inundate the people by releasing flood water or to leave them thirsty without water."
However, Bilawal vowed that Pakistan would not let Modi succeed in his nefarious plans. He contended that either India will have to accept and implement the Indus Water Treaty or it will have to give up control on the three eastern rivers. "We are ready to fight this case."
BISP support
The PPP chairman said the federal government has been inexplicably delaying the financial support through Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to the rain and flood affected people in Punjab, K-P and G-B.
He observed that over two weeks have passed since a number of people have been displaced in Punjab but they are yet to receive financial help. "Punjab government's efforts to provide ration and arrange other facilities for the flood-hit people is insufficient."
According to him, he had also personally requested Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to utilise the BISP platform for such disbursements because the programme offers the most transparent network for this exercise.
Also Read: Karachi rains threat eases as Arabian Sea depression weakens: PMD
"I again want to repeat this demand because Punjab's people have been in the camps for around two weeks." He noted that there are different phases of rescue, relief and reconstruction with which the government helps the victims of the natural disasters.
Bilawal wondered why the federal government has not launched an appeal for global financial assistance to help the people who are suffering from the consequences of the climate change effects.
He recalled that during 2022 floods in Sindh and Balochistan when he was the country's foreign minister, he launched an appeal for assistance in reconstruction and secured pledges and funds as well.