The main grievance that Sindh has is that Punjab is taking water from the Indus through the CJ and TP link canals, and will further deplete the Indus through the left bank canal at Kalabagh dam. What is being overlooked is that Tarbela dam, built for the development of industry and agriculture of the whole country, increased canal supplies by 25 percent. Sindh is already reaping the benefits of this increase in canal supplies. Punjab too has a legitimate share in the waters stored at Tarbela dam. While south Punjab is taking its share through the said link canals, north Punjab can only utilise its share through the left bank canal at Kalabagh dam. Without this canal, north Punjab will never get any water from any dam on the Indus, be it Tarbela, Bhasha, Akhori, Bunji, Dasu, Skatdu or Katzara. Two thirds of north Punjab will revert from irrigated to barani, with a 50 percent loss in national food production. What kind of future the agriculture in Pakistan will have if the largest tract of cropland of the country is denied water from the Indus, the only river with surplus flows. This is the same region where the British built the largest irrigation network of the world. And we are reluctant to build even one dam in this region because of misplaced distrust. KHURSHID ANWER, Lahore, October 21.