President urges Sindh to quit KBD resistance
By Our Special Correspondent

RAWALPINDI—President Pervez Musharraf has said that his recent visit to Sindh province proved beneficial for creating awareness of the need for additional water reservoirs to meet growing demand. While presiding a meeting over the construction of large water reservoirs in the country along with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz here today, he asked Sindh province to stop opposing the construction of bag dams and try to build consensus over the issue.
He asked political parties not to politicize the dam issue, as it is a thoroughly technical matter. The President gave his impressions on his recently concluded visits to Sukkur, Hyderabad and Karachi and his interaction with cross section of society. He informed that he would soon address the nation over the issue. He said his recently concluded visit to Sindh had been beneficial for creating awareness of the need for additional water reservoirs to meet the growing demand.
The President, who chaired a meeting on Water Management Vision, was giving his impressions on his visits to Sukkur, Hyderabad and Karachi and his interaction with a cross-section of the society. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz also attended the meeting. During his visit, he said, he projected shortages of this vital natural resource in the years to come and also cleared perceptions.
President Musharraf said he would visit NWFP and also revisit Sindh to interact with the people and share the government’s strategy with regard to water management. PML President Ch. Shujaat Hussain, PML Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Ministers for information and Broadcasting Water & Power Narcotics Control, Interior and Local Government, Attorney General of Pakistan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Youth Affairs, Chief Ministers of Punjab and Sindh, Minister of State for Water and Power, Sindh Minister of Irrigation and Power and other senior officials were also present on the occasion.
In his remarks, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told the participants that the report of the Technical Committee on Water would be released to the general public in the near future. He said teams of technical experts would brief provincial cabinets, coalition partners as well as opposition parties on the government’s water management strategy. The Prime Minister said that the report of the Parliamentary Committee on Water will be placed before the Senate in the near future and the recommendations of International Panel of Experts (IPOE) on escapage downstream Kotri would also be made public.
Later, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Monday said construction of new water reservoirs was “absolutely essential” for the country in order to ensure water security, development of agriculture and power generation. He was talking to Chief Minister Sindh Dr.Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi and Sindh Minister for Irrigation Nadir Akmal Leghari at the PM House.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao also attended the meeting. The Prime Minister said, “sitting idle and doing nothing is not an option at this critical juncture of history as the future of our coming generations is at stake". The Prime Minister said the on-going process of consultation was aimed at obtaining views and removing apprehensions of the stakeholders. He said if construction of new water reservoirs was not undertaken urgently, water shortages would aggravate in the coming years, jeopardizing the future of coming generations.