MusharrafÂ’s politics of dams: onus is on Punjab

At 04:44 PM 04/09/2004 -0700, Aziz Narejo wrote:

MusharrafÂ’s politics of dams: onus is on Punjab

Generals when in power have to invariably look for groups and lobbies that could be cajoled, corrupted and misled to support the regimes born on the wrong side of the blanket. The present dictator is doing nothing different. A look at his collaborators will tell the story.

Bolstered by BushÂ’s warmth in the aftermath of 9/11, he has roped in some allies to keep himself in power indefinitely. Military Establishment is backing him and the Armed forces are his constituency. He has thrown all the lucrative jobs to in-service and retired wardi-wallas. He has found allies in PML. Some people call it Pervez Musharraf League today but as a matter of fact, dictators have always embedded it in the past as well. The dismissed general has also found a willing ally in MQM. One doesnÂ’t have to wonder much why.

But still he needed some acceptability in Punjab ­ the most powerful province in the country. He has finally found an issue that he thinks will provide him the required support in that province. It is the ‘water issue’. He is not interested in judiciousness. He simply wants to mislead the people of Punjab into believing that the Greater Thal Canal, GTC, and a couple of mega dams are in the interest of the country and he will make them happen. The underlined message is that since the GTC and dam/s will bring more water for Punjab, the people there must support the dictator.

It must be mentioned here that there have already been lobbies in Punjab that demanded the GTC and the Kalabagh Dam, KBD. But they have never succeeded as all the other provinces have been deadly against the construction of KBD and the lower riparian province never agreed to the monster GTC. Even the British rulers had rejected the GTC terming it as harmful to the lower riparian province. But the general overruling all the objections, ordered the illegal construction of the Canal without giving it a thought how dangerous it will be for the future of the country and how much disharmony and ill-will it would create.

The facts and figures say that we donÂ’t have enough water to fill even the present dams and reservoirs. With raising of Mangla Dam we will have another increased capacity and if we follow the recommendations of TAMS, we can turn the Tarbela Dam into a perpetual reservoir with a capacity of over 6 MAF. Please remember that TAMS is the US firm that had originally designed the Tarbela Dam.

Musharraf is also very conveniently overlooking the alternates suggested by experts that will cost a fraction of the proposed huge expenditure on mega dams and would be more beneficial. They will provide more water than the capacity of at least two new mega dams, will be less harmful to the eco system and will not create any ill-will among the provinces. I have written on these alternates on these lists. One can also find them in the essays, articles and professional reports that I posted the links to in a mail a few days back.

Friends, now the onus is on Punjab: what is dear to them? The welfare and well being of a few powerful people or the same of all the people of Pakistan? Do they want to believe in the distorted picture that the general, the military and civil officers and notables that have been allotted lands in the GTC command area and some bigoted chauvinists show to them? Or do they care for the real interests of the whole country?

I would request our friends from Punjab to please look into this very important issue in as much unbiased way as they can, study the pros and cons of these mega projects, find out their feasibility in economic, human and environmental terms and decide what is good for the country. Please see why is it that three provincial assemblies have passed several unanimous resolutions against the KBD and why is it that the lower riparian province is against the illegal construction of the GTC.

My friends the onus is on you. You have to decide if you would favor the interests of the few powerful lobbies belonging to Punjab or you would reject their mischievous plans and support a judicious water policy that will uphold the interests of all the provinces.



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