Gandapur backs Kalabagh Dam

ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Monday supported the idea of constructing Kalabagh Dam albeit after addressing the concerns of all the stakeholders.

It is a major development given that the opposition to the proposed Kalabagh Dam first emerged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the nationalists parties saying that the reservoir would result in submerging Nowshera.

They were later joined by political parties from Sindh, including the PPP, which have recently forced the government to suspend the plans to build canals on the Sutlej River for using the floodwater, inundating a vast area every year.

The latest exceptionally high flood in Sutlej is an example.

However, Gandapur — a firebrand PTI leader — does not agree with the argument as he said it won’t happen.

Talking to media, the chief minister said they could not damage Pakistan for the sake of pursuing provincialism.

It would be interesting to see how other PTI leaders react to his statement given that the party is fractured amid the incarceration of its founder — Imran Khan — who is currently facing the possibility of being convicted in the May 9 cases as well.

On the other hand, the PTI has been projecting itself as a defender of the rights of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the ANP saw its vote bank being snatched away due to a combination of various factors.

In this scenario, any concession on the Kalabagh Dam would be considered damaging to its position in the province.

Although it is the two eastern rivers — Sutlej and Ravi — plus Chenab that have produced the current devastating floods, the Indus River in the past devastated Pakistan on many occasions. Floods in 1992 and 2010 are the latest examples.