CCI proper forum to resolve issues: Rabbani

ISLAMABAD Calling for a comprehensive national water policy, senior PPP leader Senator Mian Raza Rabbani stressed for resolving the issues relating to water through the Council of Common Interests (CCI). Taking part in a debate over a motion moved by Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani in the Upper House, Mian Raza Rabbani regretted the absence of national water policy to settle the issues relating to distribution of water among the provinces once and for all. He also criticised governments reliance on Indus River System Authority (IRSA) for tackling the issues and said meetings held by the President and Prime Minister with chief ministers of Sindh and Punjab were not democratic. The government has set an utterly undemocratic precedence, Senator Rabbani said. He said that decisions taken through the CCI would have permanent constitutional nature and no future government could change the same. Senator Durrani had moved that the House might discuss the problem of water shortage in Bahawalpur Division due to blockade of River Satluj. He said that neither Pakistan nor India fully complied with the Indus Basin Treaty. Durran was of the view that the distribution of water in Punjab province was not judicious and the Bahawalpur Division could only get 2 million acres feet water from the Punjabs share of 28 million acres feet. He demanded construction of a link canal from Trimmu to Head Islam as well as ensuring minimum flow of water from Head Sulemanki to Head Islam. He also demanded formation of a commission to determine allocation of water to different areas in Punjab keeping in view crop intensity, rainfall and availability of sub-soil water. He suggested that the issue of stoppage of Sutlej and Ravi rivers water for domestic use by India in violation of the Indus Basin Treaty should be raised seriously. Other senators also took the opportunity to express their views relating to various issues pertaining to water disputes between the provinces and with India. Senator Zahid Khan said that we should have focused on small dams decades ago. He said that Punjab and Sindh were utilizing NWFPs share of water and had so far collected Rs109 billions revenue from it. He said the federal government was not cooperating with the province to build up irrigation system for utilization of its share of water. Senator Tariq Azeem feared the next war with India might be over the issue of water. Senator Raja Zafrul Haq, too, supported Rabbanis point of view and said that IRSAs scope and level was very limited. Senator Talha said that India was committing the worst kind of terrorism against Pakistan by blocking its rivers. Senator Afrasiab Khattak, too, called for taking up the matter at CCIs forum. While winding up the debate, Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said that the government was fully alive to the violation of Indus Basin Treaty by India and would safeguard interests of the country at all costs. He said that Pakistan had raised objections over the design of Baglihar Dam in the very beginning and had forced India to change the same but the decade long dictatorial regime did nothing in that connection. He also said that Neelam-Jhelum project was being executed on fast track and would be completed before Indian Kishan Ganga project. The Minister also informed that the government was actively working on construction of 32 small dams to be constructed in two phases. In the first phase, he said, tenders for twelve small dams had been floated and work started on three of the said dams. He also disclosed that the previous government lied to the nation by blasting a rock in Karakoram and pretending that work on Bhasha Dam had started, while the fact was that even the feasibility study had not been started. He informed that the government had arranged funds for Bhasha Dam and the issues pertaining to land acquisition had also been resolved. He said that no one should object to the provinces if they were able to settle their disputes in IRSA. No one has stopped them from going to CCI if they couldnt resolved their issues in IRSA, he said. He added that IRSA was a national regulatory authority established under the act of the Parliament and that federal government had no authority over it. He called for not politicising issues beyond a point of no solution.