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Myth of Floods & Politics of Large Dams : The Sindh Perspective Dear All, Sindh Water Committee is comprised of prominent Sindh based political thinkers, water experts, irrigation engineers, civil society leaders, agriculturalists, representatives of farmers and growers organizations, technocrats and water and environmental writers. A seminar on "Myth of Floods & Politics of large dams: the Sindh perspective" was organized by Sindh Water Committee on August 22nd, 2006 (Tuesday) @ Hyderabad Press Club, Hyderabad, Sindh. Rasool Bux Palijo (Chairman of the committee), Abrar Kazi (Convener Sindh Democratic Forum and Secretary of SWC), Abdul Majid Nizamani (President Sindh Abadgar Board), Former Senator Abdul Majeed Kazi (Vice President of Sindh Agriculture Chamber), water experts Nazeer Ahmed Memon, Mehmood Nawaz Shah, Punhal Sariyo (SNC), Jami Chandio, Muzaffar Sadiq Bhatti, Zulfiqar Halepoto spoke on the occasion. The house unanimously passed following resolutions adopted during the seminar on "Politics of large dams: the Sindh perspective" held on August 22nd, 2006 (Tuesday) @ Hyderabad Press Club, Hyderabad, organized by Sindh Water Committee. The participants of the seminar resolved that : 1. Prime Minister Shoukat Aziz has shown his total ignorance of the vital subject of water by stating that were there large dams, floodwaters could have been stored and could have saved from being "wasted" in the sea. This house feels that with this statement, the Prime Minister is strengthening the lobby that favors large dams and reservoirs on the waters of river Indus, in opposition to logic and justice to the lower riparian Sindh. 2. That the widespread rains in the whole country and especially in Sindh, has decreased the demand for water in the canals that together with the rain water, is flowing into the sea, after inundating the 2 million acres of riverine Kacho and bringing rare happiness to the people living in this vast tract, who used to see their rich grazing lands inundated every year at this time of the year but now only see such spectacle once every 5 years. 3. That the large dams should only be planned on water, that is dependable in its assured availability. Every body with an iota of sense can understand that large dams can not be planned on water from rains that only fall perhaps once in 5 years. Therefore the participants of this seminar resolved that the governments sitting in Islamabad and Karachi follow the advise of the Technical Committee on Water Resources (TCWR) headed by Mr A N G Abbassi and commissioned by General Pervez Musharraf which has in its exhaustive report indicated that no large dams are feasible on Indus River System because of uncertain availability of water. 4. The participants of this seminar demand that all unjust, unreasonable anti Sindh and anti Pakistan plans of building dams on river Indus or its tributaries should be shelved immediately. All the government side water vision formulas including Wapda’s Water Vision 2025 and President’s vision of construction of 5 large dams including Kalabagh, Basha and the newly announced Akhori Sanjwal dam should be scraped, and the unanimous resolution of the constitutional and representative forum of the 40 million people of Sindh, the Sindh Assembly be considered as referendum against any further cut or dam on river Indus. . 5. The participants of this seminar demand that constant drain of Sindh’s share of water through Chashma Jehlum (CJ) and Taunsa Panjnad (TP) link canals be stopped immediately and both the link canals closed for good. And the work on the illegal, immoral and unconstitutional Greater Thal Canal (GTC) be stopped immediately and the plan shelved for good. 6. The participants of the seminar regret that while talking of "grandiose water visions" the government does not have simple disaster management policy and infrastructure to cope with minor rains like the present ones, floods, droughts, famine, typhoons or any other disasters, faced by the innocent people of Pakistan especially of Sindh. The current collapse caused by rains in the entire Sindh and especially in Thatta, Badin and Karachi is not due to heavy rains but due to failure of simple governance and total inefficiency of government agencies. 7. The participants of this seminar condemn the ignorant and arrogant attitude of Relief Commissioner of Sindh, who refuses to recognize damage to peoples’ property and agriculture in the districts of Nawabshah, Sanghar, Mirpur Khas, Hyderabad, and the coastal district o Thatta and Badin. Rather than helped the victims of rain affectees he is making fun of the vulnerable people. 8. The participants of this seminar demand that Pakistan should ratify the United Nations (UN) Convention on Non-Navigational Uses of International Water Courses (1992), in whom it is mentioned that countries through which International watercourses are flowing are duty bound to release water for the environmental protection, deltas found by rivers and estuaries and also for the other life forms including fisheries and mangroves. The same convention also spells out that all countries are duty bound to add subsoil sweet water aquifers to the total water resources of the country. Profound Regards, |