Building Kalabagh

Letter December 16, 2012
In my view, it is not that the politicians have made it controversial — rather the project itself is controversial.

HYDERABAD: This is in reference to a letter by Major (retd) Syed Zahid Salam titled “Building the Kalabagh Dam” (December 13) in which the writer says that the dam is an important project for the country’s development. The writer says that if just the technical aspects of the proposed dam were examined, it would be something that should be built.

In my view, it is not that the politicians have made it controversial — rather the project itself is quite controversial. The question to ask is that since three of the provinces have already rejected the project, why is it being resurrected? Isn’t it also a fact that the proposed Bhasha Dam has a bigger power generation capacity than Kalabagh? Furthermore, Bhasha will be at a location which is more upstream the Indus compared to Kalabagh and the issue of its flooding Nowshera, or any other inhabited area, will not arise.

Some politicians in Punjab have even gone so far as to suggest that those who oppose the construction of Kalabagh are “Indian agents”. Are we to then assume that those who oppose Bhasha’s construction are agents of China?

Darya Khan Chandio

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2012.