Technical committee likely to back Skardu dam

By Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD, : The Senate's technical committee on water resources is reported to have observed in its report that the Skardu-Katzara dam is the only viable option owing to lack of consensus on other big dams, like Kalabagh and Bhasha, it is learnt.

Informed sources told Dawn that the report is named after ANG Abbasi who will submit it before the Senate, but it will include diverging views of all members of the committee.

The report, the sources said, had sought reactivation of the Council of Common Interest (CCI), which is the only constitutional forum to decide inter-provincial disputes, and whose absence had politicised and made major water-storage projects controversial.

The sources said that the committee, in the report, had admitted that it had not been able to forge consensus on prioritizing the future dams, total water availability, distribution of water among the provinces, operations of link canals and filling criteria for dams. All these issues, the report says, can be resolved at the CCI level.

The committee, sources said, has held that notwithstanding some defence considerations, the Skardu dam, with 35 million acre feet (maf) storage capacity, can best store the water of "supper-flood" which traditionally comes once in a decade and that could be conserved by no other dam including Kalabagh and Bhasha.

It could irrigate, primarily through gravity flow, the whole of Pakistan, including Balochistan, Thar and Cholistan deserts, and its construction would amount to implementation of 90 per cent of the 1991 Water Accord and help eradicate poverty in vast parts of the country. However, it would submerge whole of Skardu and a lot of underground and surface defence facilities, the report has added.

Although the project is a part of Wapda's vision-2025, its construction and resettlement cost is yet to be ascertained. A study on its technical details and merits and demerits is likely to be available by the end of 2005. Skardu dam would have a long storage life of about 1,000 years.

On the other hand, Kalabagh dam would have a storage capacity of 6.1maf and a power generation capacity of 3,600mw. Its feasibility study and design are complete.

The Bhasha dam would have a storage capacity of 7.3maf and power generation capacity of 4,500mw. Both Kalabagh and Bhasha, with storage capacity between 6maf and 7maf, could cater for carry-over needs for one year only and not the once-in-a-decade supper floods, the report, according to sources, says.

They said Mr Abbasi had been under pressure from some intelligence agencies and he had recently brought this to the notice of President General Pervez Musharraf. The president, the sources said, had asked Mr Abbasi to complete his professional job without any pressure or fear.

The sources said the president had recently told a group of Pakistan Muslim League legislators that he had gathered, from his own sources, that Kalabagh dam had the support of seven members of the nine-member Senate's committee on water resources.

One of these parliamentarians, requesting anonymity, told Dawn that the president could attach top priority to Kalabagh dam, followed by Bhasha dam, on the basis of majority vote in the technical committeeand supported by the Senator Nisar Memon-led parliamentary committee on water resources. The two reports would also be presented before the parliament for debate, he said.

The final report of the Senate's committee would also mention a Pakistan Meteorological Department report which predicts fast depletion of Himalayan glaciers in the next 25 years and suggests construction of a big dam that could be used as a long-term carry over dam with a capacity to feed agriculture for a longer period.

http://www.dawn.com/2005/02/19/top5.htm

WAPDA’s conduct on dams

Engr Fateh Ullah Khan

Despite being a Federal agency WAPDA has displayed a parochial attitude on Kalabagh Dam. It has also adopted a non-professional attitude on the planning and investigations of Katzarah Dam, Akhori Dam, Basha Dam and Skardu Dam. Wrong planning and insular investigations of dams have therefore destroyed the achievement of optimum potential of water and power resource. The world’s third largest reservoir dam at Katzarah with storage capacity of 35-maf is intentionally mishandled in desk studies in spite of the fact that the President has approved to conduct its detailed pre-feasibility report. Its name is also changed to Skardu Dam and its storage capacity is shown as 5.2 maf against 35-maf as reported by Dr Pieter Lieftnick in 1968 and by this scribe in 1962. Due to parochial attitude, dams are wrongly and randomly planned by WAPDA to fulfil provincial cravings.

The 30-year-old controversy and obstinacy on Kalabagh Dam is an ugly example followed by another example of naming Katzarah as Skardu and drastically showing its reduced potential on the basis of wrong desk studies. Similarly, WAPDA never thought of finding an alternative dam site to Kalabagh but obstinately wasted 30 years of most precious time in status quo since 1974. Politics in dams has been introduced, creating a water and power crises. Excellent dam sites are purposely discredited on false pretext under the so-called desk studies by charlatans, thereby misleading the Federal Government and the provinces and prolonging disputes among them and creating shortage of water and power. The Federal Ministry has no source to get second opinion on WAPDA’s wrong project planning concepts and fraudulent reporting, therefore the Ministry as policy-maker follows what WAPDA dictates and as a result the provinces suffer. The Government may, therefore, study the conduct of WAPDA on 5 dams under consideration besides the two drainage projects of SCARPs and NDP that failed and caused losses of billions of dollars. Wrong planning of water resources is creating famine-like conditions in the country.

The 35-maf "Katzarah Dam" is the world’s third largest reservoir dam on the Indus. This dam site is discovered and named after the village Katzarah by this scribe in 1962 and was confirmed by Dr Pieter Lieftnick in 1968 in his report on page 144. Out of shear jealousy and undue support to the hydraulically infeasible Kalabagh Dam, WAPDA intentionally changed the name of 35-maf Katzarah Dam site as Skardu Dam and thus drastically reduced its optimum potential of 35-maf of storage capability to 5.2 maf. This is recently shown by WAPDA on a map to misguide the provinces and the Ministry after I pointed out this unique dam to the Parliamentary Committee headed by Senator Nisar Ahmad Memon in a meeting held by him at Peshawar and at Islamabad. This dam was officially pointed out to all concerned when I was Chairman IRSA in 1994. It was also published in the press on numerous occasions. The fact is that Skardu Dam site is 22 km on the up stream of Katzarah Dam site. The trick of renaming the dam and showing its extremely reduced potentials is going to destroy the unique water and power resources to be accrued from Katzarah Dam. This is because WAPDA feels embarrassed for failing to discover such a unique dam. The actual Skardu Dam site as selected by the World Bank Consultant Team is described below.

The World Bank Consultants headed by Dr Pieter Lieftnick in 1968 had already fixed the Skardu Dam site. It is immediately downstream of the confluence of Shigar River with the Indus River about 4 km upstream of the town of Skardu. (Refer to Dr Pieter Lieftnick report volume-I, page 283 as proof). Again, refer to page 296 of the same report where the height of Skardu Dam at this site is shown as 310 feet, its length is 3700 feet and storage capacity as 8-maf. This documentary fact clearly shows that WAPDA is not giving a true picture on dam sites and on their potential.

Had WAPDA built Katzarah Dam earlier in 1962 it would have served as a carryover storage and its storage would have helped the current hydrological drought as in 1994 about 92 maf of water was wasted to sea.

Katzarah Dam due to its unique storage would serve as a development dam, replacement dam, inter-seasonal dam, Indus River regulation dam, carryover dam, power generation dam, flood control dam, irrigation dam and poverty alleviation dam. All other dams with very low storage capacity like Kalabagh, Akhori, Basha and Skardu are only replacement dams to replace storage lost due to silting of Tarbela and Mangla.

Katzarah Dam can irrigate about 10 million acres of barren lands in the four provinces including the area of Thar Desert through the proposed All Pakistan Grand Canal off taking on the Right Bank of the Indus from a new barrage to be located below Chashma barrage.

But WAPDA has determined not to build any dam on the main stem of the Indus in spite of the fact that it has potential for developing about 40,000 MW of hydropower and storage capacity of about 75 maf of water. Therefore, WAPDA has adopted false plea that transportation facilities are not available to build Basha, Katzarah and Skardu Dams. But this wrong plea has been contradicted by no less a person than the Chairman NHA himself. He declared that the road is capable of transporting all kinds of machinery to the dam site at Basha and Katzarah. WAPDA’s negative conduct on dams on the main stem of the Indus is not in national interest. The highhandedness of WAPDA can be judged that M/S Shahzad International LTD Islamabad has offered to prepare free of cost pre-feasibility of Katzarah Dam with the help of Chinese experts. But WAPDA surprisingly refused the free offer when it was made known by the Secretary Water and Power in a big meeting with the Parliamentary Committee on Water Resources. The intention behind the refusal was to conduct feasibility by WAPDA under its own direct control so as to minimise the unique potential of Katzarah Dam and confuse it with Skardu Dam. Actually this has happened, as Katzarah Dam is named as Skardu Dam and its storage is shown in three colours on a map marking it as reservoir 1, 2 and 3 with storage capacities as 5 maf, 8 maf and 20 maf. At the same time WAPDA created panic spreading remarks that the entire Skardu valley will be destroyed. It did not mention its unique merits. WAPDA has intentionally carried out wrong and misleading desk studies instead of detailed pre-feasibility to hide the great potentials of Katzarah. WAPDA should have conducted pre-feasibility studies through some reputed foreign consultants as this study was approved and desired by the President himself.

WAPDA and Punjab want Kalabagh Dam by hook or by crook. WAPDA should realise that Punjab and Sindh each would get 13 maf of water as their share in 35-maf of Katzarah storage. NWFP will get about 4.9 maf and Balochistan about 4.2 maf of water. In spite of all this WAPDA has only two specific choices. First choice is Kalabagh and the second is Akhori. IRSA and the World Bank Consultants rejected both these dams on technical grounds respectively.

There is no problem with Basha Dam. However, if compared to the 35-maf Katzarah Dam, its storage is only 7-maf of water nearly at the same cost. In such a situation Katzarah Dam must be given preference. However, under the circumstances Katzarah and Basha both must start simultaneously.

Similarly, there is no problem with 8-maf Skardu Dam located on the downstream of the confluence of Shigar River with Indus River about 4 km upstream of Skardu town. However, Skardu Dam would be submerged and overlapped by the construction of 35-maf Katzarah Dam located 22 km away from the site of Skardu Dam.

http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/oct2...004/oped/o5.htm

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Skardu dam

Recipe for disaster

M Ismail Khan

Politics may be the art of the possible, but apparently not as far as Pakistani politicians are concerned. The technical committee on water resources in the Senate of Pakistan, reportedly, is set to unfold another impossible dam proposal which recommends construction of the world's largest water reservoir, that too on the roof of the world.

The proposed Skardu Dam with estimated water storage capacity of 35 million acre feet (maf) will submerge all of Skardu, capital of Baltistan or Little Tibet in the Northern Areas. An outburst or accident of a high altitude dam of this magnitude once unleashed can effectively affect all major cities of the country, including Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi into the Arabian Sea.[B]

It seems that the senate's technical committee, particularly A.N.G. Abbassi, [B]has bought the idea being promoted by a bunch of misguided civil engineers, mostly from NWFP, who have been advocating the construction of Skardu dam, which would involve lucrative mega projects and also take the heat off from controversies generated by the Kalabagh and Basha dams. Whatever be the implicit motives, what is clear that these people have little knowledge and understanding about mountain ecology, environment and natural heritage.

They are also dangerously blank on Pakistan's long-term strategic interests. Otherwise, how could they propose the construction of such a huge water reservoir within the artillery firing range of a hot border? It will take less than a minute of flight time for an Indian aircraft to approach the proposed dam. Skardu is the most porous valley in the Northern Areas that provides for defence facilities including the vital airbase and military command and control hub for protection of the critical Pakistan-China road link, and maintenance of the status quo in Gultari, Ladakh and Siachan sectors. There is no other potential or alternate military base to replace Skardu.

On the other hand Skardu valley, capital of Baltistan, has its own unique ecological, cultural and environmental significance. Sandwiched between one of the world's highest plateaus Deosai and the largest naturally formed glacier outside the poles, Skardu is the historical seat of the Balti Kingdom, and the hub of the Balti cultural heritage. The dusty town dotted around with an amazing mix of lakes, sand dunes, streams, snow-clad mountains and terraced fields and orchards, serves as cultural melting pot of the Balti people. It is the life-line of the over 300,000 Baltis sparsely populated in numerous valleys who already face multiple challenges as an ethnic minority in the religiously radicalised social scene of the country.

Situated amidst the world's newest and the most fragile mountain system, which is prone to earthquakes and other natural calamities, a 35 million acre feet dam in the heart of Karakoram will be nothing but a recipe for disaster. One doesn't even need to be a geologist, glaciologist or climate change expert to realise that a minor shift in the hydrological cycle due to permanent storage of a large water body can play havoc with the sensitive mountain ecology. Imagine the situation if a dam outburst of such magnitude starts rushing down to the hills of NWFP and plains of Punjab and Sindh. The gravity flow triggered by thousands of meters high tsunami-like waves can be disastrous for the entire country. The water reservoir being proposed by the honourable senators can thus potentially imperil the very existence of Pakistan and make it vulnerable to a super mega flood.

It is also evident that the moisture and climatic effects generated by a massive water body will hasten the melting process of the glaciers thus raising possibilities for massive glacier outbursts. Let us not forget the tragedy triggered by the outburst of a very humble dam in Pasni, Balochistan during the recent rains.

But when it comes to planning sensitive issues like water, one can expect anything from the desperate souls in Islamabad. In 2001 for instance, a Food Minister from Sindh made an even more foolish proposal. He called for the bombing of Baltoro and Hisper glaciers to overcome the water shortage downstream; some federal ministries went actually passed the proposal to the ministry of science and technology for comments, which in turn shared the ideas with the country's famous nuclear scientists. It was only after a spontaneous backlash of the Northern Area's media and civil society groups that the proposal was shelved. It would have been like killing the chicken that lays golden eggs.

Skardu valley is the gateway to most of the famous mountaineering expeditions to central Karakoram --home to K2 -- second highest point on Earth, known among mountaineers around the world as the 'throne room of the mountain gods'. In the late 1990s UNESCO considered including the area in the World Heritage Site (WHS) list, but this was deferred due to Indian objections citing the disputed nature of the territory! This would have been the first natural heritage from Pakistan in the prestigious list; the WHS list includes natural sites located in India and Nepal.

If Islamabad has a hard time selling the idea of Kalabagh and Bhasha dams to a national audience, think of the Indian reaction and the global feedback that a proposal about submerging Skardu could provoke. Senator A.N.G. Abbassi's recommendations (reported on Feb 19, 2005) seek the reactivation of the Council of Common Interest (CCI), which is a constitutional forum to decide inter-provincial disputes. However, Northern Areas is neither a province of Pakistan, nor part of the CCI; it has no representation in the Senate, or the National Assembly or the assemblies of divided Kashmir in the name of which the Northern Areas status has been kept in limbo for the last 57 years.

Since Northern Areas are not a federating unit, we will have to wait and see on what constitutional and moral grounds do ANG Abbassi and his colleagues in Senate and the so-called CCI stand on the Skardu dam? Have they consulted people in the Northern Areas on the issue, they are definitely equipped to bulldoze and subdue the already poor and marginalised Baltis in Skardu, but I wonder if they have the mettle to go against the common sense, against nature, against the world and more importantly against Pakistan's own strategic interest?

http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2...005/oped/o3.htm

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Efforts stressed to evolve consensus: Govt not focused on Kalabagh dam: Aziz

By Ismail Khan

PESHAWAR, Dec 24: Calling for a national debate on the need of water reservoirs in the country, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday warned that time was running out and doing nothing was not an option.

“Time is running out. Doing nothing is not an option. We need to galvanize our efforts to evolve consensus. We all are Pakistanis and any decision to be taken would be in the best national interest,” he told a press conference at the end of his day-long visit to Peshawar.

Mr Aziz had had a meeting with NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani and Governor Khalilur Rehman and also attended a meeting of the provincial cabinet.

The prime minister dispelled the impression that the government had made up its mind on the construction of Kalabagh dam, when a reporter drew his attention to statements by President Gen Pervez Musharraf advocating for Kalabagh dam.

“Everybody should express his views. This is the essence of democracy. There should be debate and consensus. The president has been talking about water reservoirs and Kalabagh is one option,” he said.

A cabinet member said the prime minister spoke in general terms about the need for the construction of water reservoirs in the country without being specific about any dam. “He was not particular about Kalabagh dam. He was sort of non-committal,” the minister told Dawn.

Prime Minister Aziz said he had offered to send a team of experts from the federal government to sit and discuss with the NWFP government and brief it on different options available. “Ask them any question you want,” he was quoted as telling Mr Durrani and his cabinet.

Appreciating the offer, the chief minister said his government had drawn a report on the controversial dam and would like to discuss the project with experts from the federal government.

Mr Aziz said that Pakistan presently faced 9 Million Acre Feet (MAF) water shortage, which would increase to 30MAF in 2025.

He said that sedimentation of existing dams was also contributing to water shortage, adding that by 2010 6MAF less water would be available because of silting alone. He pointed out that Pakistan had the potential to cultivate 77 million acres, but could cultivate only 44 million acres due to water shortage.
He promised to make public all reports, including the report of the technical committee headed by A.N.G Abbasi that has declared Skardu-Katzarah as the best option followed by Bhasha dam.

He said that reports of the parliamentary committee on water reservoirs and downstream Kotri Barrage would also be made public to help initiate public debate and evolve consensus on the issue.

Mr Aziz said that the issue would also be debated in parliament and a decision would be taken in the best national interest.

He referred to a report on global warming and its effects on Pakistan by renowned scientist Dr Ishfaq and said that the country needed to build water storages to cope with floods caused by melting glaciers. “The report is quite troublesome.”

On the president’s statement that construction of new dams and the National Finance Commission Award would be announced together, Mr Aziz said that provincial governments had authorized the president to make the announcement after failing to reach consensus on the issue.

Mr Aziz said that the federal government had included development projects worth Rs16.6 billion for the NWFP in the next Public Sector Development Programme, including funds for Lowari Tunnel, Gomal Zam dam, Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway and Peshawar Bypass and Peshawar-Torkham Expressway.

He said the federal government was setting up laboratories all over the country to check potable water on a three-month basis to ensure the provision of clean drinking water to people and control water-born diseases, including hepatitis.

APP adds: Addressing a meeting of MNAs, senators, MPAs and office-bearers of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, district nazims and tribal elders, the prime minister asked how an elected government could go against the interest of the country and said that every decision of the government would be in the larger interest of the people and the state.

He asked the PML leaders to chalk out a strategy to mould public opinion in favour of big water reservoirs to ensure sustainable development of the economy.

The prime minister said that various options were currently under consideration, including Kalabagh, Bhasha, Skardu, Akhori, Kurram Tangi and Munda, to meet the water shortfall which the country might face in a couple of years.

Every year, he said, 30-32MAF water fell into the sea as the country had no reservoirs to store it.

http://www.dawn.com/2005/12/25/top2.htm

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Kalabagh dam’s life less than 15 years: expert

By Our Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD, Dec 24: Former chairman of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) Engineer Fatehullah Khan Gandapur has said the life of the proposed Kalabagh dam will be less than 15 years and it will not play any part in improving the country’s agricultural production. (Irresponsible statement cause he did not quote any study or report in his favor. When you make such statements, you need to quote a study or some report to be credible)

The former Irsa chief was speaking at a briefing on the Kalabagh dam project for the local leadership of the People’s Party Parliamentarians at the party’s central secretariat here on Saturday, says a press release.

Mr Gandapur said international experts had already rejected the project. He said the dam would be detrimental to the interests of smaller provinces. There are several alternative projects available which should be explored, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, PPP President Makhdoom Amin Fahim said Kalabagh dam project was a conspiracy against the federation and an effort to create hatred against Punjab. “This is a play to hide government’s failure at every level,” he added.

The briefing was attended by MNAs Zamarud Khan, Fauzia Habib and Nayyar Bokhari, MPA Amir Fida Piracha and party leaders Agha Riazul Islam, Syed Abrar Rizvi, Nargis Faiz Malik, Sardar Salim and others.

The meeting passed resolutions demanding that the government should shelve the project and consider alternative projects.

The PPP leaders expressed their resolve to resist Kalabagh dam at any cost and to pay sacrifices for the rights of the people.

Meanwhile, PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar in a statement said the assertion that Benazir Bhutto had ever supported the Kalabagh dam was totally wrong.

He said the fact was that there was a proposal by certain elements about an Indus dam. “This was dismissed by the PPP government when it was found that it was nothing but the Kalabagh dam renamed,” he said.

Moreover, he said, no presentation was made to the then prime minister, Ms Bhutto, demonstrating that building a dam at Kalabagh was technically feasible.

http://www.dawn.com/2005/12/25/nat9.htm

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Kalabagh in country’s interest, says Jamali

Dera Murad Jamali, Dec 24: Former prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Saturday said that the construction of Kalabagh dam was in the interest of the national economy and the issue should not be politicized. Talking to a TV channel, Mr Jamali said he would support every step which would be in favour of Pakistan. The country, he emphasized, needed water reservoirs, including the Kalabagh dam.

In reply to a question, he said consensus on Kalabagh dam was required as the issue was being politicized.

“We are supporting the construction of Kalabagh dam since 1985 in order to cope with up water shortage in the country,” he added.—PPI

http://www.dawn.com/2005/12/25/nat10.htm

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Dam issue a conspiracy against Musharraf’

By Our Staff Reporter

LAHORE, Dec 24: Exiled MQM leader Altaf Husain says raising of the Kalabagh Dam issue at this time is a conspiracy against Gen Musharraf. He was speaking to reporters by phone from London on the inauguration of party’s provincial office here on Saturday.

MQM deputy parliamentary leader Dr Farooq Sattar, federal minister Syed Safwanullah, Omar Draz and other leaders were also present.

Mr Husain said he would stand by the general on the issue only if he managed to get the three provinces agreed on the project, wondering why the ruler in Islamabad was so resolute on the subject.

He saw a few generals and big landowners in Punjab behind the “conspiracy” against Gen Musharraf who, he said, must understand it and should not follow their advice.

He alleged that prominent Sindhi leader Pir Pagaro was on the payroll of the government and that’s why he was supporting the project.

He said all the projects were part of Pakistan and no step should be taken without taking them into confidence.

He alleged that a right wing students organization forced him to give up his studies and he formed a body to counter them.

He said feudal lords were befooling Punjabis and they would never allow the poor of this province to express their opinion independently.

The MQM leader denied that he or his organization was involved in the Jinahpur conspiracy. He alleged that one Brig Asif Haroon had fabricated the story and prepared bogus maps of the so-called independent state.

He said he was ready to accept death penalty if his assertion proved as wrong.

He announced that he would not accept any higher office even if his party came into power.

Urging Punjabis not to befooled in the name of Islam, Mr Husain said he was a friend of Punjab and “a friend is he who points out mistakes of his friend.”

http://www.dawn.com/2005/12/25/nat16.htm

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Civil groups criticize dam plan
Bureau Report

PESHAWAR, Dec 24: Teachers, students, doctors and political organizations have rejected the Kalabagh dam plan and termed it an organized destruction of the Pukhtun nation. (oh sure!) In separate meetings held here on Saturday, they called upon the people to shun their petty differences and forge unity against the construction of controversial dam.

A meeting of Malgari Ustadhan, presided over by its president Islamuddin Khan, was held at the Bacha Khan Markaz. A resolution was adopted against the Kalabagh dam.

Awami National Party provincial general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain, vice-president Imran Khan Afridi, information secretary Syed Aqil Shah and other ANP leaders attend the meeting.

Mian Iftikhar urged his party workers to take part in the anti-Kalabagh dam rally on Dec 29 in Jehangira.

A meeting of the Malgari Doctrans, presided over by its president Dr Mohammad Salim, denounced the construction of the controversial dam and decided to attend the anti-dam rally. A medical camp would be set up on the day to provide treatment to the people.

The Pukhtun Students Federation and People’s Students Federation announced that their workers would attend the rally.

The Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party has asked its workers to attend the anti-Kalabagh dam rally and express solidarity with the nation.

http://www.dawn.com/2005/12/25/nat23.htm

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Shahbaz Sharif terms Kalabagh Dam as need of country

NEW JERSEY: Former Chief Minister of Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif has backed the construction of Kalabagh Dam.

In his telephonic address in a function organized to celebrate Mian Nawaz Sharif’s birthday, Shahbaz said that country needs more water reservoirs and Kalabagh Dam should be build on immediate basis. Some parties politicize the issue, which is wrong, he added.

Former Chief Minister Punjab urged consensus on the issue. He stated that Mian Nawaz Sharif also is in favour of construction of Kalabagh Dam.

SOURCE:http://www.geo.tv/geonews/details.asp?id=99776

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Whither, once again, beloved Punjab?

By Ayaz Amir

BEAUTIFUL Punjab, fair land of the five immortal rivers (three of them since gifted by a military ruler to India), why, when so generous of heart, do you prove time and again so weak of understanding?

When you have so much to offer why are you so poorly served by those who claim to lead you? What vengeful fate brings you the poisoned gift of third-rate leadership?

Land of Waris Shah and Shah Hussain (their memories hallowed till the end of time), why, unwittingly, do you end up stoking burning resentment when, with all your heaven-bestowed advantages, you should be spreading tenderness and love?

Of all the lands which came together to form Pakistan, why must you always be the first to welcome every man on horseback who contrives to turn the country (not a small one, mind you) into an instrument of his will and pleasure?

You have the gift of enterprise and industry. There’s no corner of the world where the Punjabi has not ventured or is not to be found. Why did your good fairies deprive you of the ability to differentiate right from wrong and stand up for the right?

When East Pakistan bled you kept quiet. Indeed, to your lasting shame, you sided with the forces of oppression. When there was a movement in rural Sindh against the excesses of the Zia regime (1983), you made token noises of support but kept largely to yourself. Baloch gas lights your kitchen fires and keeps you warm in winter. Yet when Balochistan bled (1973-75) you were indifferent to its fate. When again the sounds of conflict are coming from that quarter you are silent.

Your capital, Lahore, was one of the great cities of the Mughal Empire, one of the great north Indian cities even under British rule, its cultural life more vibrant than anything to be seen in Delhi. Lahore, if true to its historic greatness, should have been Pakistan’s new frontier, fermenting-ground of new ideas. It has been just the opposite, the crucible of a narrow ideology. Of what good this ideology has been to Punjab it is hard to say. But for the rest of Pakistan it has been a permanent headache.

So no surprises when we consider that all the obscurantist winds to blow across the national landscape these past 50 odd years have arisen, in the first instance, from Punjab. In the light of this history it is at times hard to remember that this is the land of Waris Shah and Shah Hussain. Where Punjab should be Pakistan’s greatest unifying force, through generosity and wisdom the magnet drawing every other province to itself, the history of the last fifty years emphasizes its power to repel rather than attract.

Economic factors have brought the Frontier province closer to Punjab, in the process eliminating the more virulent manifestations of Pakhtoon nationalism. This is one of the good things to have happened since 1947. But the same cannot be said of Sindh and Balochistan where a sullen mood prevails. Lessening this mood of alienation should have been one of our foremost national priorities. Instead, six years of military rule have only made it worse.

As if that wasn’t enough, Islamabad’s sense of timing is always calculated to leave one speechless with amazement. When does Gen Musharraf choose to stoke up the embers of the Kalabagh controversy? Smack in December, the very month when Pakistan was dismembered 34 years ago. When do army helicopter gunships re-enact old scenes of strife and conflict in Balochistan? Again in December. No one can fault Islamabad with having a sense of history.

The general’s latest take on the situation is that he won’t allow Sindh to commit suicide. The people of Sindh should be grateful. Instead, they are likely to be alarmed out of their senses by this sweeping generosity. You can’t blame them. Many times bitten, they have ample reason to be constantly shy and cynical.

Islamabad and its chosen minions — like the information minister Shaikh Rashid and the parliamentary affairs minister, the one and only Sher Afgan — are injecting a lot of hot air into the atmosphere. We know what their priority is: playing to the president’s ear. If today the president were to say that for the sake of national unity he must also become chief justice of Pakistan, these same spokesmen will say wah, wah and applaud his wisdom.

We need an informed debate, not needless bluster. In all the heat generated by the Kalabagh controversy no one has been able to answer Sindh’s fears that the proposed Kalabagh dam will deprive it of its share of water from the Indus, its only lifeline.

Punjab has two rivers, Jhelum and Chenab, for its exclusive use while through the Indus Basin Treaty system of canals it also draws its share of water from the Indus. Sindh only has the Indus, no other river. When Gen Musharraf or the Water and Power Authority (Wapda) say that unless large water reservoirs are built, Pakistan will face drought-like conditions in the next ten years or so, the obvious implication is that water stored at Kalabagh, besides generating power, will also be used for irrigation purposes.

Well, let’s do a bit of map-reading. Kalabagh is in the upper reaches of Punjab. A right bank canal from there will benefit the Frontier (its southern districts). A left bank canal can only benefit Punjab. In any case, water drawn from Kalabagh for irrigation will mean lesser water flowing down the Indus. Which is precisely Sindh’s point that, as it is, there is less water in the Indus and if more is taken away, Sindh will be left with even less, thus violating its rights as the lower riparian with first call on the waters of the Indus.

With these facts stacked on one side it strains the imagination to believe, as the federal government desperately wants everyone in Pakistan to believe, that Sindh will benefit the most from the Kalabagh dam. The sums just don’t add up.

No one defies authority readily in Pakistan. We are just not made that way. So we in Punjab and Islamabad — Islamabad being Punjab in distilled form — should pause and ponder why everyone in Sindh, from the ruling coalition to the PPP to the MQM and even the Pir of Pagara, the quintessential establishment man, is opposed to the Kalabagh dam. Either the whole of Sindh has gone mad, in which case Gen Musharraf before attempting to save Sindh from committing suicide should provide it with urgent psychiatric help, or the centre must re-examine its assumptions.

Punjab likes to think of itself as the big brother of the Pakistan federation. By virtue of population and productivity it is. By virtue of any wisdom or large-heartedness at its command it is not. If Punjab really is big brother, it shouldn’t leave Sindh alone in its hour of distress. Rather than let Sindh cry itself hoarse over Kalabagh, Punjab should be voicing Sindh’s agony, Punjab which should be confronting the centre on this issue.

Indeed, Punjab should go a step further and say: enough of these games, enough of divisions fanned in the name of fake, spurious ideologies. We tried to keep the federation together by force in 1971 and look what happened. We should learn something from our reverses instead of making a habit of repeating them. Haven’t we suffered enough because of foolish policies in the past?

With the army stretched to the full in both Waziristans, a full-fledged military operation underway in the Kohlu area of Balochistan, never-ending curfews in Gilgit, the stupendous task of quake relief and rehabilitation still only half-begun, you would think this was not the time to open new fronts.

And certainly not the time to remain committed to building a huge new behemoth of an army headquarters (GHQ) in Islamabad; buy early-warning aircraft from Sweden; and go ahead with the purchase of two luxury aircraft for the prime minister’s travelling. A Senate committee had earlier voted against this last piece of foolishness. Lo and behold, under pressure from only God knows who, it has reversed its decision and re-voted in favour of the luxury jets. Obviously, there’s no early end in sight to the follies generated regularly in Islamabad.

These are the wages of tiredness. After six years and some more in the saddle, all the signs suggest that the present dispensation has overshot its script and has nothing more to say. So how does it justify its quest for longevity? Which probably explains why a controversy we might have been forgiven for thinking was dead and buried, has been revived as a national rallying cry.

Source: Dawn Online Edition December 23, 2005

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