Ordinarily, one should expect political leaders of some maturity and standing, like Pakistan Railway Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour of ANP, to make a determined effort to mould the public opinion, in case it did not coincide with the demands of national interests. Not so with most cases in Pakistan, unfortunately, for fear that they might become unpopular with the voters. Thus, they would rather pander to their narrow, parochial feelings in order to remain in their good books so as to keep their vote-bank intact for the next elections. Such has been the deterioration of political standards in the country over the years Mr Bilour is reported to have said that the country would have to be broken before Kalabagh Dam could be constructed. That Kalabagh Dam would generate a big chunk of electricity for this power-starved country and store water enough to ensure the irrigation of millions of acres of land both already under cultivation and lying barren could not be doubted. And had Pakistan had built Kalabagh Dam when its feasibility in every possible aspect was first approved decades ago, the country would not only have escaped the curse of loadshedding, but also could have contained, to a large measure, the floods of biblical proportions that hit the country last year. If Mr Bilour did not feel himself up to the task of going against the thinking of his voting public, and yet if he were conscious of the signal contribution that Kalabagh could make to the strength of the economy and remove the misery of citizens, he could have easily pointed to the need for consulting experts. And these experts would have set at naught the common apprehension of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and, particularly, of Nowshera that no portion of their town would be submerged under the waters to be stored at KBD. Even one of their world-class engineers, Shamsul Mulk, who was also at one time Chairman WAPDA, has been unequivocally discounting these fears and underlining the reservoirs imperative need for the good of the country. At present, Pakistan is passing through trying times. But a living people, whenever they get buffeted by crises from all sides as we are today, stand up to safeguard their national interests. It is time we realised that India is desperately trying to exploit the situation and systematically depriving us of the much needed vital resource of water. That poses an existential threat to the country. Even if we leave aside the sombre political scenario Pakistan is placed in at the moment, and only focus of the scarcity of water for our todays needs, let alone the growing requirement that a developed country and an increasing population have, we should have no reservations in tapping whatever resources that are available in the country. It is time that smaller provinces shed their baseless fears of Kalabagh Dam and judge the project as a vital national necessity.