Kalabagh Dam: LHC order impossible

The Frontier Post

The Lahore High Court decision directing the federal government to initiate work for building the proposed Kalabagh Dam is not going to find support from any major political player in the country. And without strong and well spread support, the project is undoable. One, however, cannot but appreciate the stance of Punjab CM for restraining from using the decision as a license to push for the dam; rather, he has chosen the option of'Kalabagh Dam yes but not at the cost of Pakistan.' The mainstay of the LHC decision is the approval of the project over two decades ago by the Council of Common Interests (CCI). The judges have directed the Islamabad government to implement the CCI decision in this regard. It would have been a much better verdict, if it had contained an order to take a fresh decision from CCI on the issue. After all, circumstances change with the passage of time and a decision taken in 1989 might not be suitable in the changed conditions. At the time, the CCI was approving the project in 1989, The Frontier Post had organised a seminar in Abbotabad on the subject. The seminar ran uninterrupted for 17 hours and had representation from all the provinces, including those from the Saraiki belt. The representatives of all areas, including those from Hazara, had rejected the project. Former finance minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, NWFP then, Nawabzada Mohsin Ali Khan, quoting ex-chairman Wapda Nasir ul Mulk, had said, during the seminar, the dam water would stand twenty-six feet high from Khushalgarh Bridge and definitely flood Kohat district; the inundation of Nowshera district and adjoining areas a far-gone conclusion. The proposed site of the dam is also located in a salty mountain range. If the dam is built, the seepage of water will dissolve the salt and make the mountains there unstable; also, the salt will reach underground creating the twin problems of salinity and water-logging in vast stretches of the surrounding land. Quoting the same source, Mohsin Ali had said there was no provision even for a glass of water for KP in the design of the dam other than the sure eventuality of large inhabited areas of the province coming under water or being plagued by water-logging and salinity. The objection of those from the province of Sindh was that there was not enough water in the system for further storage. Sindh representatives also expressed the apprehensions, narrating their past experiences that the water stored in Kalabagh Dam would be used for irrigating Punjab land. They also said Sindh being tail riparian the land there would be deprived of water and the meagre amount of river water which fell in the sea would not be available. Though to many the water that falls in the sea is wasted that, however, is not the case: river water pushes the seawater back and stops it from flowing into land. Currently, there is not enough water flowing from the rivers to push back the sea, which has resulted in the salty seawater making hundreds of thousands of acres of Sindh land barren. There are many more objections of the people of the three minority provinces on the design, purpose and location of the project. Politically, the fact that the assemblies of three provinces have passed resolutions against it-- should be enough to give a rest to the proposal for the dam until such time when a consensus is reached.