The Punjab Forum has sought a referendum in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the issue of Kalabagh dam as majority of people supports this project which is so vital for national survival. The referendum will expose the claims of the so called nationalists who are playing with the fate of 180 million people, it added.
KBD is neither a technical nor a political issue, rather it is an issue relating to humanity and national survival which is being delayed in the name of provincial harmony. There should be some limits for the so called inter-provincial harmony which is yet to be defined in clear terms, it said.
Baig Raj President, Punjab Forum said here on Wednesday 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. “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 politicised and ill-fated project. All the national and international experts have termed KBD one of the most feasible projects 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.
He further said 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. The dam would not benefit Punjab alone; it would also eradicate poverty from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and help boost output of Sindh.
President Punjab Forum said that Pakistan cannot reach consensus to make a dam while India is in process of making hundreds of dams without getting any consensus 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. Inimical nations want to destroy Pakistan not through bullets but economically, he added.
