I have always been admiring the letters of Dr. M. Yaqoob Bhatti in support of KBD. However in his letter of 6th March (Nation) he has gone off-track by supporting new Seraiki and Hazara provinces on linguistic basis. His prophecy i.e. “Godsend profitable outcome of the new provinces would be re-negotiation of the 1991 Water Accord for fresh allocation of water” is an illusion. Scraping of 1991 Water Accord would be disastrous. Keeping in view the existing discord and rift among the provinces created by the enemies of Pakistan, it would be impossible to develop consensus for any such Water Accord. Thus fomenting more trouble and weakening the federal structure of Pakistan in the shape of water and linguistic riots, ethnic cleansing etc. Dr. Sahib should continue his struggle in favour of KBD on the basis of “Pakistan first”, shunning the petty advantages to one “province” or “administrative division” by creating disharmony among the federating units. Political leadership of D.I. Khan can raise its voice in KPK assembly for KBD as Right Bank Canal from KBD can only ensure gravity flow of water from Indus to this barren district. So goes the saying, “Everything which glitters is not gold”.
ENGR. QASIM IQBAL KHAN,
Lahore, March 7.