Protest against Kalabagh dam continues
Dawn Report
JACOBABAD, Dec 29: Under the aegis of different political parties, a procession was taken out here on Thursday against the proposed construction of the Kalabagh dam and the army operation in Balochistan. The protesters, carrying banners and placards, raised slogans against the controversial water project and the Balochistan operation.
The procession, led by People’s Party Parliamentarians MNA Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani, started from the Shaheed Allah Bux park and after marching through different roads of the town reached the Quetta road where the protesters staged a sit-in. Later, the protesters reached the press club.
Speaking on the occasion, union council nazims Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani, Israr Khan Jakhrani and Zulfiqar Lashari, Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party leader Ali Mohammad, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam leader Dr A. G. Ansari and others said the Kalabagh project should be shelved and the operation in Balochistan stopped, otherwise national integrity would be endangered.
They also demanded an increase in paddy prices to enable growers to make both ends meet.
They gathering also passed resolutions against the Kalabagh dam and the Balochistan operation.
SEMINAR: Representatives of political and religious parties and social and trade organizations have opposed the Kalabagh dam and demanded that the government should shelve the project.
They were speaking at a seminar on “Pakistan or Kalabagh dam” organized by the Pakistan People’s Party-SB at the local press club.
PPP MNA Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani, Citizens Union president Mohammad Akram Abro, district PPP-SB organizer Nadeem Qureshi, Mohammad Younus Mahar, JUI leader Dr A. G. Ansari, UC nazim and STPP leader Ali Mohammad Lashari and JSQM leader Ghulam Sarwar Mastoi criticized the Kalabagh project.
They said the country was dismembered in 1971 due to wrong policies of then rulers and the present government was repeating the same mistakes. They held President Gen Pervez Musharraf and his government responsible for the situation.
They claimed that Sindh had right on 75 per cent water of the River Indus under the water agreement of 1945.
They also criticized the operation in Balochistan and demanded that the government should stop it forthwith.
NAWABSHAH: District Nazim Faryal Talpur has called upon the government to consider feelings of all four provinces, especially Sindh, before taking any decision on controversial Kalabagh dam project.
She was talking to reporters at the press club here on Thursday.
She said that her priorities were to supply clean water, basic health facilities and quality education to residents of Nawabshah.
The nazim said she was concerned about traffic problems in the city and would talk to the DPO about it.
Replying to a question about her relationship with the Haq Parast group, she said she wanted friendly relationship with them and had held talks with them.
She said coordination between the ADP and the HPG would solve problems of the people.
Earlier, the nazim congratulated newly-elected office-bearers of the Nawabshah press club.
MPA Ghulam Qadir Chandio, District Naib Nazim Abdul Haq Jamali, Nawabshah taluka Naib Nazim Khan Bahadur Bhatti and People’s Lawyers Forum president Ziaul Hassan Lanjhar were present on the occasion.
http://www.dawn.com/2005/12/30/nat12.htm