Referendum in KPK over Kalabagh dam demanded

The Punjab Forum on Wednesday said Pakistan’s survival is tied to early construction of Kalabagh dam (KBD) which is being delayed in the name of provincial harmony.

There should be some limits for so called inter-provincial harmony which is yet to be defined in clear terms, it said.

Mega power projects have been delayed due to reservations of international lenders while country continues to face worst load shedding and water crisis which is putting future of Pakistan at stake, said Baig Raj, President Punjab Forum.

We urgently need KBD, the most feasible power generation and water storage facility which is being ignored by the successive governments to keep some politicians happy, he added.

He said that energy and water crisis can only be resolved by constructing KBD; the most important and most politicalised and ill-fated project.

All the national and international experts have termed KBD one of the most feasible project but those on the top don’t want to listen about it which amounts to sacrificing national interests for power, he added.

Baig Raj said that ruling coalition is focused on taking all coalition partners and some opposition leaders on-board which may be strengthening the democratic process but the policy is weakening Pakistan.

Reasons behind increasing poverty, hunger, crimes, reduced agricultural output, brain drain, flight of capital and shifting of industrial units to other countries include insufficient electricity and deficiency of irrigation water, he informed.

Those who are resisting the project are doing great disservice to country on the whims of foreign powers that want to see Pakistan as a failed state.

President of the Punjab Forum said that he dam would not benefit Punjab alone; it would also eradicate poverty from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and help boost output of Sindh.

A referendum in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the issue of dam will expose the claims of so called nationalists who are playing with an issue which is matter of life and death for 180 million people, he demanded.

It is neither technical nor political issue, rather it is issue relating to humanity and national survival.

He said that Pakistan cannot reach consensus to make a dam while India is in process of making hundreds of dams, adding that we should not allow the issue to cost the country and generations to come.

We will have no future if politicians continue to prefer personal welfare over national interests resulting in destructive consequences.

Enemy nations want to destroy Pakistan not through bullets but economically.