Technical experts, nationalist leaders from Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP and representatives of mainstream political parties at a national conference on Tuesday rejected Kalabagh dam and vowed to resist efforts to start construction of controversial water project.
Representatives of mainstream political parties including Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) expressed doubts that government would start construction of Kalabagh dam and said it was being done to divert attention of masses from real burning issues.
The national conference on "Water, Dams and Indus Delta" was organised by Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) here at a local hotel and it was addressed water experts, environmentalists, nationalist leaders and leaders of mainstream political parties.
On the occasion, several resolutions were unanimously adopted by the participants demanding federal government to abolish Kalabagh dam project, re-conduct studies to ascertain needs of Indus flow downstream Kotri, protection of Indus Delta communities and revision of policy of constructing mega water projects on the river Indus.
Through another resolution, it was recommended to the government to take steps for containing water losses, in addition to introducing modern technologies for land levelling and agricultural purposes.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Sharry Rahman in her address said when three provincial assemblies had rejected Kalabagh dam, there was no need to raise this issue and called for taking other steps to overcome water shortage and storage.
She was of the opinion that issue of KBD had been raised to divert the attention of people from real issue of relief work in earthquake-hit areas as government wanted to embezzle billions of dollars of funds.
Muhammad Hussain Mehnti, MNA of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) also opposed construction of Kalabagh dam and called for collaborative efforts for removing General Pervez Musharraf.
He said Parliament should discuss the issue but owing to dictatorship in the country, autocratic decisions were being made and policy of divide and rule was being pursued.
MMA MNA also deplored that Parliament, judiciary and provincial assemblies had been made rubber stamps and people were not being listened to, which was creating unrest among the masses.
Renowned Sindhi nationalist leader Rasool Bux Palejo in his speech did not mentioned Kalabagh dam or any other water reservoir, instead he accused rulers of cheating people as Pakistan was not being run as per promises made with smaller provinces at the creation of the country.
He said according to assurances of founder of the nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, provinces comprising had to be given provincial autonomy, right to opt out of federation at any time and right to have separate Constitutions.
Palejo was of the view that military generals should obey politicians instead of politicians obeying military generals.
Another Sindhi Nationalist Qadir Magsi strongly condemned government efforts to start construction of controversial water project and said nobody was authorised to destroy people of Sindh economically.
He said if Indus river water was stopped, people of Sindh reserve the right to create problems for people of bigger provinces.
Environmentalists and water experts belonging to IUCN and other NGOs also opposed the construction of Kalabagh dam on technical grounds and said it would destroy ecological balance in Indus delta.
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