The All Pakistan Business Forum (APBF) has voiced concern over hundreds of deaths in Karachi in the last five days following a deadly heatwave being added with long power outages and water shortages and urged government to construct big dams immediately. "The APBF also praised the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for supporting the most controversial but important Kalabagh Dam project."
APBF President Ibrahim Qureshi said this in a statement here on Thursday. He said, "It is a welcome step of the MQM to announce support for the construction of the Kalabagh Dam."
He also urged the government to complete this project after disposing of the reservations of the Sindhi people. "Pakistan's per capita water availability has already gone below 975 cubic metres from 5,100 cubic metres in 1960 which is a great threat to industry, agriculture and the public, in general," he warned. "The World Bank has asked Pakistan to build a dam like Tarbela at least every decade but successive governments have failed to make a single dam despite resources which indicate lack of interest in securing country's future. The water shortages have reached an alarming level, which will make Pakistan a desert in a decade if immediate steps are not taken. Politicians should settle their disputes in the larger interest of the nation and the government should declare water as the most important issue of the national security," he said.