Daily Times

Any discussion on Kalabagh only creates chaos. The people of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) view Punjab with suspicion because of this controversial dam.

This column is a response to Moonis’ Ahmar’s June 15 column titled Conflict dynamics of Kalabagh Dam. The piece only focuses on the rationale for allowing the dam to be built — it does not address the issues of the local peoples and the provincial governments in charge.

I request Ahmar to visit the districts of Sindh, especially Tharparker, Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan, and Thatta. People here have been dying for water for a long time, and a visit to these localities will put the writer in a better position to talk about this dam.

In Sindh, people are suffering not because of the dam, but because of poor governance. I believe the main factor affecting the lives of these people happens because of unfair treatment at the hands of those providing a bigger share to Punjab.

Ahmar has written hat, “Kalabagh Dam is our best chance at stopping the wastage of billions of gallons of water during the monsoon season.” I would like to ask him what waste he is discussing. We cannot only keep the monsoon season in mind to build an entire dam.

The Kalabagh dam project has not been stopped because of the incompetence of our rulers. It has been stopped because it is a highly biased project that will leave not one but two provinces high and dry, to satiate the thirst of only one

I think that a shortage is being created across Pakistan to develop a rationale for building the dam. In remote areas of Sindh, people have started to migrate from their villages to nearby towns. Youngsters are selling snakes on the roads to earn some bread and butter for their families. Women walk miles every day to find waters. These people’s only source of livelihood is agriculture, which has gone out the window because the lands they used to work on are now barren. To deal with these unproductive lands, these people have started carrying out negative copping strategies that will invite further climate change and calamities.

Environmentalists have been urging the government from time to time that the water in Kotri downstream is as necessary as oxygen. However, the federal and Punjab government has ignored all this by saying that the water will be wasted if it sent downstream. Thousand acres of agricultural land has been cut down by the sea so far but no one seems to care.

The life of not just people but also the flora and fauna in the area has become paralysed because of this issue. Sindh has been losing out its due share of water to Punjab for a long time. However, like Ahmar, many people now continually keep talking about the dam. This is a matter of life and death for millions.

People of Sindh are on the same page when it comes to Kalabagh. This is because they have genuine reservations about the after effects of the dam.

Punjab needs to start by giving other provinces their due share of water, and then perhaps we can think about building more dams. How can one province enjoy the fruit of prosperity while others continue to struggle for even a single drop of water?

To resolve this issue, Punjab needs to start by giving other provinces their due share of water, and then perhaps we can think about building more dams. How can one province enjoy the fruit of prosperity while others continue to struggle for even a single drop of water?

The writer further referred to “so-called nationalist feelings” to disregard the feelings of both the Sindhis and the Balochis. Their loyalty to their land dates back more than a century. I want to clear this for Ahmar that voicing one’s opinion against a lethal project that can bring devastation to the lives of one’s own community is not because of “so-called nationalist feelings”.

I agree with the writer when he says that “Lack of political will and vision, corruption and incompetence are the four major reasons which block progress and development in the country,” but I totally disagree that “it is these very issues which have stopped the Kalabagh project in its tracks”. The people that will be worst affected by the dam are the ones stopping it from becoming a reality.

Perhaps these factors can be considered barriers or hindrances in our country’s prosperity and progress. However, the Kalabagh Dam project has not been stopped because of the incompetence of our rulers. It has been stopped because it is a highly biased project that will leave not one but two provinces high and dry, to satiate the thirst of only one province.

There is no need to build this dam in Pakistan. The centre needs to instead focus efforts on providing water equally and fairly to all the provinces in Pakistan. Water is a right, and it must be provided for all.

The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at abbaskhaskheli110@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, June 22^nd 2018.