TANVEER AHMED

KARACHI: The Supreme Court Saturday sought the opinions of water experts and jurists to the issue of water scarcity in the country and declared that it is interested to tackle the issue of depleting resources rather than arguing in favour of construction of Kalabagh Dam at the moment.

The larger bench of SC headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar at Karachi Registry took up the hearing on a petition filed by Barrister Zafarullah Khan seeking referendum on Kalabagh Dam. Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah are part of the larger bench which is hearing the case.

The CJP remarked that if the nation empowers the apex court it would play its role in resolving the water scarcity issue in the country when CJP engaged in a dialogue with former Chairman WAPDA Zafar Mahmood, who gave a presentation on water situation in the country during today’s hearing.

Justice Saqib Nisar said that court would hire the services of known lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan along with the others to guide the court on this issue. Ibrar Qazi & Khalid Kazi from Sindh and Shamsul Mulk from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa can help out the court in this regard.

After Eid, the work would start on it and Law & Justice Commission would hold a seminar on it to formulate the recommendations for the parliament to resolve the water issue through construction of dams and other means.

The CJP stated in categorical terms that we are not debating the issue of Kalabagh Dam but looking into options how to overcome water scarcity in the country,” he remarked in response to statement of Advocate Mujeeb Peerzad that issue of Kalabagh dam is “disputed.

Mujeeb stated that people of four provinces have termed Kalabagh dam a dangerous project, which triggered a prompt response from CJP that he should not feel insecure as the court is not talking about construction of Kalabagh Dam. “We just want to resolve the water scarcity,” Mian Saqib Nisar declared.

He, however questioned what would be the alternate if four provinces are not agreed on one water project as the water shortage would aggravate further in the days to come. He allayed the concerns of Advocate Mujeeb and said the SC is the court of federation and we believe in bringing all together instead of creating differences.

Justice Faisal remarked that the controversy on Kalabagh Dam surfaced in 80s and stated that if it became dispute then the constructions of other dams should have been done during that period.

Former Chairman WAPDA Zafar Mahmood in his presentation stated that people are not well aware about Kalabagh Dam and informed that court I resigned from WAPDA after a dispute arises over my statement about Kalabagh Dam. He emphasized for evolving the consensus on the issue.

Zafar Mahmood also termed the Indus Water Treaty a risk to the country and said that India has right not only three rivers Ravi, Sutlaj and Beas but it has even occupied their tributaries. Zafar said that successive governments committed negligence in construction of dams and termed it a “criminal negligence on their part.” He noted that India would squeeze Pakistan further on the water as it would even store the water that it releases in these three rivers during the flood season.

He told the court that climate changes have started impacting Pakistan adversely, which resulted in massive flooding in the country for quite some time. Glaciers are melting fast and under ground water level has dropped to alarming stage in the country.

The CJP adjourned the hearing of the case after seeking the opinions of experts on the issue and declared a seminar would be held under the auspices of Justice & Law Commission to formulate the recommendations and chalk out Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for construction of dams and resolving the water shortage in the country.