Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Wednesday asked if Pakistan’s survival was possible without water.

“What will be Pakistan’s water situation after five years if dams are not constructed,” the top judge said while hearing a petition filed by Barrister Zafarullah Khan who had requested a referendum for the construction of Kalabagh Dam. “Construction of dams is imperative for the country’s survival. All of the four brothers [provinces] should come together and make sacrifices for the construction of dams. Farmers will be indebted if agricultural land turns infertile,” he said.

The chief justice then asked about the measures that should be taken to solve the country’s water issue. He also observed that fear should not be evoked in the citizens of Pakistan, and Quetta in particular.

Judicial advisor former WAPDA chairman Shamsul Mulk and lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, also serving as amicus curiae in the case, were present in court.

As the hearing went under way, the petitioner remarked that all of the four provinces had agreed on the construction of Kalabagh dam, to which the chief justice responded that the issue was not so simple. Mulk informed the apex court that 46,000 dams have been constructed worldwide. “Are other countries fools?” he said.

“China has constructed 22,000 dams, with some of the reservoirs producing 30,000 MWs of electricity,” Mulk told the court, adding that Pakistan’s next-door neighbour, India, had also constructed 4,500 dams. “I have met with every opponent of the Kalabagh dam and all of them have accepted my stance on the matter,” he said, adding that opponents of the dam say they don’t trust the Punjab province.

The engineer informed the court that water stored in the Tarbela dam is distributed to the provinces through a devised formula, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) receiving four per cent of the water. Sindh, Balochistan, and Punjab receive 70 per cent, six per cent, and 20 per cent of Tarebela’s water respectively.

Mulk stated that he had given a briefing on the dam to the KP government and the Awami National Party (ANP), whose influence lies in the Pashtun-dominated areas in and around the province. “A senior member of ANP told me that he would convince party president Asfandyar Wali Khan for the construction of the dam.”

“We must work on an urgent and emergency basis. Bring together people so they can give their suggestions,” the chief justice said. “Everyone should unite to resolve the issue.”

Aitzaz Ahsan remarked that talks should be held with the opponents of the dam. To this, the chief justice responded that dams which are not controversial should be prioritised. Questioning the political government’s efforts to construct dams in the past 10 years, Justice Nisar remarked that nothing had been done in that regard. “Come what may, dams must be constructed. I want to know where can the dams be constructed? I want to know the solution of the issue,” he said, adding that the apex court would not let the matter go till it was resolved.

The top judge observed that a team of experts needs to be constituted. Imtiaz Qazalbash, former WAPDA chief engineer, responded that multiple teams, not one, need to be formed on the issue. He said that dams were not constructed in the past due to corruption, and instead thermal power stations were installed. “The Nawaz Sharif-led government set up thermal plants on three hundred per cent higher prices,” he alleged.

Published in Daily Times, June 28^th 2018.