OPPOSITION to the Kalabagh dam is suspicious. The vibes that I received in the past was that they were spending a lot in lining up opposition to the dam.
While discouraging us to build a dam on the Indus, India itself is building three dams on the river in violation of the Indus Waters Treaty.
It obviously wants to use the water itself.
It wants to flourish by saying that there is sufficient water in the river and Pakistanis don`t need it.
The opponents of the Kalabagh dam are depriving Pakistan of 3,600 megawatts of electricity, billions of dollars` worth of revenue to the Sindh government. They are depriving water to 700,000 acres of land in Balochistan,800,000 acres oflandin Khyber Pakhunkhwa, and to thousands of acres of land in Punjab.
It may be noted that while the federal government offered iron-clad constitutional guarantees to Sindh,it didnotlisten to the government, rather it listened to those it shouldn`t have listened to at all.
The scenario has changed. I think the Kalabagh dam should be built without any further delay. Not many people in Sindh would oppose it if they are told the correct facts in the right way.