India behind the anti-Kalabagh dam conspiracy: Moonis Elahi

Lahore: Moonis Elahi senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League has called an early construction of Kalabagh Dam the only way to Pakistan’s development and prosperity. He has accused India of being the main conspirator in the anti-Kalabagh dam campaign.

Moonis Elahi has urged his party’s youth to build consensus on Kalabagh dam in their native areas. Moonis Elahi has blamed the present government of rolling back successful initiatives meant for youth and taken by Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s government and of converting Pakistan into a loan borrowing rather than a loan giving country.

Moonis Elahi expressed these views at a jam packed PML Youth Wing Convention held at Pakistan Muslim League house Lahore today. The participants had come in great numbers from all corners of the province and throughout their young leader’s speech they kept chanting slogans in his support.

Addressing a packed house, Moonis Elahi accused the N League government of deliberately letting the overwhelming potential of Pakistan’s youth, 70% of country’s population, going waste. He said N League had always shown a criminal indifference in harnessing Pakistan’s abundant resources. He expressed his extreme anguish at the loss of 40 MAF water annually falling unutilized into the ocean which he said if used could produce 50000 MW electricity at Rs. 2. 5 per unit with an annual saving to the country of over $ 10 billion.

He said the present rulers had no interest in either the future of youth or in providing people with cheap electricity. They increase electricity bills every month but are not doing anything to increase electricity generation, he said.

Moonis Elahi called the laptop scheme and youth loan scheme of N government as mere waste of national wealth. He said the real relief to the people of Pakistan was a relief in electricity rates.

Talking about Kalabagh dam, Moonis Elahi said that the dam once constructed would generate 3600 MW electricity and lessen the annual electricity generation cost by Rs. 180 billion out of which Punjab had to bear a burden of Rs. 100 billion. He called upon his countrymen to build Kalabagh dam as its construction cost was less than the $ 9.5 billion worth of devastation caused by the 2010 floods in Pakistan.

Condemning Nawaz government for toeing a pro-India Policy, he demanded the government to inform the nation of reasons of not putting forward the demand of India’s withdrawal from encroaching upon Pakistan’s waters as a pre condition for any peace agreement or awarding of MFN status to India.

Moonis Elahi urged the people of Sindh, KPK and Balochsitan to begin afresh a dialogue on Kalabagh Dam so that their doubts and suspicions could be allayed for the well being of Pakistan and for the elimination of all major issues including load shedding. He said with the construction of Kalabagh Dam, Sindh could get 4 MAF, KPK 2. 2 MAF, Balochistan 1. 5 MAF and Punjab 2. 0 MAF of additional water respectively which could take the agriculture of these provinces to unprecedented heights.

Moonis Elahi reminded the youth present at the convention of the successful initiatives of Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s government meant for their betterment including 7 million jobs, free books and education up to Matric, province wide establishment of new and modern universities, colleges and professional education institutes and promotion of Information Technology.

The PML central leader expressed his resentment over the misuse of Lahore IT Tower being used as a hostel for Ittefaq House guards at present and said it was such steps which were promoting dismay and suicidal tendency in the province’s young.

The convention was also addressed by Sardar Waqas Hasan Mokal, Zulfiqar Pappan, Faraz Awan, Ajmal Zia Cheema and Asad Riaz Baloch. PML senior leaders Chaudhry Zaheeruddin Khan, Muhammad Basharat Raja, Bao Rizwan, Bilal Mustafa Sherazi, Malik Shakil Sikandar, Seemal Kamran, Samina Khawar Hayat and others were also present.