HYDERABAD, Dec 19: Sindh People’s Party Parliamentarians president Qaim Ali Shah has said that the Kalabagh dam was a matter of serious concern to the people of Sindh but the rulers wanted to construct it even at the cost of the country’s integrity.
He was addressing party workers and office-bearers in Qasimabad here on Monday.
He said the rulers wanted to create hatred among people of federating units on the Kalabagh dam issue but the PPP would foil their designs.
He said the entire country was in a grip of political and economic turmoil and Benazir Bhutto alone could save the country.
He said the year 2006 was the year of general elections and the return of Benazir Bhutto.
He called upon the people of Sindh to participate in the anti-dam rally to be held in Karachi on Dec 22.
He said that it would be the biggest protest rally in the history of Sindh.
PPP-SB: The district chapter of the Pakistan People’s Party (Shaheed Bhutto) has announced to stage a demonstration and hunger strike outside the Hyderabad press club on Dec 24 to protest against proposed construction of the Kalabagh dam.
Speaking at a news conference at the press club on Monday, PPP-SB leaders Piral Majidano, Mehboob Siyal, Dr Lakhmir Palari, Dada Yaqoob Qambrani and Imran Ali Shah said the people of Sindh would never ever accept construction of Kalabagh dam or any other dam on the Indus River.
They said the government should listen to voice of reason and abandon the controversial Kalabagh dam project which had already been rejected by three provincial assemblies.
They said if the government did not give up idea of the dam, the people of three provinces would revolt which would endanger very existence of the country.
They criticized a campaign launched by President Gen Pervez Musharraf and PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in support of the Kalabagh dam.
They said that they should learn a lesson from history of East Pakistan.
DADU: The leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, has said that the federal government is trying to get political mileage by raising the issue of Kalabagh dam and no member of the Sindh Assembly either affiliated with the treasury benches or the opposition would accept the construction of the controversial dam.
He said that it was the moral responsibility of the federal government to shelve this project forever keeping in view the resolutions passed by the three provincial assemblies.
Mr Khuhro was talking to newsmen at the residence of PPP district secretary, Dost Ali Jessar, here on Monday after attending a local court.
The leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly said that Gen Musharraf was trying to consolidate his position as the president and that’s why he was supporting construction of the Kalabagh dam.
He said that the government had wasted its time on controversial projects since the day Gen Musharraf had taken over.
He said that availability of water could be gauged from the fact that the Tarbela dam could not be filled by the government and its efforts to construct the Kalabagh dam made no sense.
Answering a question, he said that Federal Information Minister Shaikh Rashid and Dr Sher Afgan were supporting the Kalabagh dam to get their job extended.
He alleged that Rs1 billion had been given to Shaikh Rashid to launch a media campaign for the construction of the Kalabagh dam.
He said that the people of Sindh will not accept the Kalabagh dam through a media campaign. He recalled that in the past, Sindhis had rejected anti-Sindh projects and interference in the judiciary and all examples were on record.
He said the country and Azad Kashmir were facing earthquake crisis but the government had raised the issue of construction of Kalabagh dam.
He announced that the Sindh Assembly in its next session would pass another resolution against the dam. He hoped that the members of the treasury benches would also support this resolution.
JACOBABAD: Former speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Illahi Bux Soomro, has said that there is no question of construction of Kalabagh dam because dams are constructed when there is plenty of water.
Speaking at a press conference at his residence here on Monday, he said India was building Baglihar dam on the Chenab River and Pakistan was opposing the plan with tooth and nail.
He said under the Bombay-Punjab accord of the 1901, the Sindh’s right was recognized on the Indus River and it was finalized that no barrage or dam and canal would be constructed without the consent of Sindh.
Mr Soomro said the Sukkur Barrage was constructed under the 1927 accord and Tarbela dam was constructed during the One Unit by Field Marshal Mohammad Ayoub Khan otherwise it was not possible.
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