Daily Times

After election 2018, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice and the Chief of Army Staff are all on the same page, especially when it comes to the implementation of decisions taken by any of them. It looks like this trio of chiefs is cordially connected with one another and backs each other’s stances. It is a good gesture because it will strengthen democracy in the country.

However, strangely enough, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) declared that he will go an extra mile to build the dams. He didn’t only start the dam fund but also started collecting funds from all over the country. As the new government took control of the country, it joined hands with the Chief Justice and started supporting the same cause. Recently on TV whilst addressing the nation, the Prime Minister requested overseas Pakistanis to contribute to the dam fund.

In Pakistan, celebrities, corporations, non-government institutions and government entities have contributed to the dam fund so far, but this fundraising looks like a forced collection of money rather than deliberately paying for the cause. Heads of such departments, without asking their employees have deducted their one day salary and the cheques of such collected money have been paid to the Chief Justice.

A few days back, a deplorable act was carried out by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) held judiciary. The PTI, MPA Imran Shah, slapped a person publically and was forgiven by the court when he agreed to pay Rs. 3 million for the fund. What’s going on in the country? Is this how justice works?

PTI, MPA Imran Shah, slapped a person publically and was forgiven by the court when he agreed to pay Rs. 3 million for the fund. What’s going on in the country? Is this how justice works?

It looks like every criminal has found his/her way out. As soon as they submit money in the dam fund, all their previous misconducts will be erased from the book of wrongdoers. In Karachi, massage center owners, beauty parlor proprietors, drug suppliers and almost anyone who owns an illegal business is taking part in the CJP fundraising campaign.

This debate has spread all over the country but those who have been burning the midnight oil for building the dams hasn’t taken any suggestion from the water experts that whether the dams will be built or not? Will the dams fulfill the water needs? Will sufficient water in national rivers be available for filling those dams? They are saying that water is being wasted in the country and this is the only justification and logic they have behind their intention to build the dams.

Sindh has its tail end of River Indus to prove/ to show to the world that we have no water. One can judge the water scarcity in the region by visiting the entire southern Sindh. The dying Indus Delta is there to witness that not a single drop of water is wasted in Sindh. Anyway, the decision regarding such happenings can only be done by experts.

Building dams does not only constitute to building a concrete wall which amounts to billions of dollars. The present government is not as powerful when compared to Musharraf’s government. Even he couldn’t make dams during his regime, and at that time the  Water Commission’s report clearly stated that “There is no water for the dams in the rivers, so small dams can only be build”. Small dams are good for storing rainwater, so such type of dams can be built throughout the country. The project which was once initiated in Sindh regarding the construction of small dams is still pending. Gaaj dam project in Kachho area of Sindh hasn’t been completed yet due to the inattention of the concerned authorities.

However, the government does not want to build small dams in the country, they are set on only building big as well as controversial dams like Kalabagh. The odd thing I noticed throughout this episode is the hijacking of media to forcibly run dam supported stuff. Previous governments used to pay for all the advertisement of governmental stuff but this new trend which has been developed by the PTI government seems to be very dangerous. The government should know that media channels are running on only paid advertisement as they don’t have another source of income.

All the provinces except Punjab, are against the controversial building of the dams for years.

Imran Khan is the head of the dam related projects, thus the final decision will be his. However, in my opinion, I don’t think that approving such decisions will make him more popular and powerful among the populace. Such decisions are like playing with people’s sentiments rather than providing them some sort of comfort. Democracy will never flourish if Imran follows the same pattern as his predecessors.

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

Published in Daily Times, September 20^th 2018.