CM on the defensive

LAHORE: The Punjab chief minister (CM) played the peacemaker during his address to the House on Wednesday, while taking up two controversial issues: water distribution and the war between the media and the MPAs.

Promising an acceptable-for-all solution to the issue of distribution of water with Sindh, he said that the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) will be re-constituted “according to the Constitution and the law”. The CM also assured the media that his government had no plans of imposing curbs on it.

Shahbaz Sharif shared details of his meeting with the prime minister and the Sindh CM regarding the Chashma-Jehlum Link Canal, assuring the members of the House, “We will not take an extra drop of water from Sindh and we will not let any one deprive us of our right either”. Sharif also sought to pre-empt any criticism by the opposition members saying that the water distribution issue should not be used by any party for political point scoring.

He held Pervez Mushrraf responsible for “ruining Irsa through an executive order” and also blamed the PML-Q for being complicit.  Sharif stated, “The people who did not have the courage to speak up in front of a dictator – when he meddled with Irsa by flouting the Constitution and placed two representatives from one province on the board – have no right to talk about the Punjab’s rights now.”

Sharif continued the denunciation of Musharraf and PML-Q, holding the two guilty of “banning the media and torturing journalists” during their tenure. He added that the resolution in favour of the media had been passed by the House unanimously, “so any doubts that the media had after the first resolution was passed should now be put to rest”.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2010.