Sidestepping water issue amounts to betrayal: President
Bureau Report

LAHORE—President General Pervez Musharraf Thursday said the Government will take a judicious decision on construction of water reservoirs and stressed that overlooking the vital issue in view of growing shortfall of the natural resource would amount to a betrayal of the nation.
He also told the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors that the Government was striving for developing a consensus on the subject, favoured an open discussion on the issue and was prepared to extend constitutional and administrative guarantees to Sindh.
“The water shortfall will gravely impact the agrarian sector and the 70 per cent of population living in rural areas as their very livelihood is dependent on the availability of water,” he cautioned, adding that Pakistan must deal with the issue strategically to have enough water for its unstinted agricultural and industrial growth. The President regretted that the previous governments rolled the issue under the carpet but said the government is committed to taking a decision after developing a consensus. “It is water which will irrigate lands for agricultural development and it is water which will provide cost-effective energy for sustainable industrial development.” Punjab Governor Lt Gen (retd) , Khalid Maqbool, Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Arif Nizami, President CPNE, flanked the President during his about two-hour interaction.
Referring to his interaction with a cross-section of people in Sindh , the President said it had been beneficial in terms of creating awareness about the imperative need for water reservoirs. “We are endeavouring to present a rationale to Sindh and develop a consensus and address reservations at the lowest level , and I shall revisit the province and NWFP as well to remove suspicions and build up trust.” He said the country needs two to three dams by 2016 to meet the shortfall of 15-20 million acre feet and stated that the downstream province of Sindh would suffer the most if new dams are not built.
Commenting on the law and order situation in Kohlu, Balochistan, the President said the Government would continue to follow people-focused development. The Frontier Corps he said, is acting in self-defence and wherever required the writ of the government would be established. “An overwhelming majority of people wants development of the province,” he said. President Musharraf expressed a firm resolve to successfully and simultaneously address major issues including national finance commission award, rebuilding of quake-hit areas, water issues and the situation in Kohlu. On Pakistan-India  peace process, the President observed that confidence building measures have been moving ahead and added that Pakistan is trying to speed up the process of dispute resolution as well.
He said the APHC leadership in the Occupied Kashmir supports demilitarization and self-governance. He said Pakistan has presented a number of ideas on Kashmir. The back channel diplomacy between the two countries is taking up these and when something concrete comes up, it would be brought to the front channel, he said. President Musharraf said that economy is of vital importance for a country, and if a country’s economy is robust it can handle other issues effectively.
“We have put our economy on the right track and all indicators are positive and encouraging with GDP growth rate of 8.4 percent achieved last year. This year also it would be around 7 percent with per capita income having increased from 460 dollars to 700 dollars during the last five years.” He said other economic indicators like foreign exchange reserves,stock exchanges performance, exports and GDP-debt ratio all are showing remarkable improvement in all sectors of economic activity. The President said fast expansion of cellular phone service in the country and phenomenal sale of about 20 million mobile phones speaks of the economic betterment of the people. Stating that the economy is rapidly growing, he said, world Bank has ranked Pakistan as the 10th most attractive state for investment in the world which is matter of pride for us.
Admitting that there is inflation , the President said, it should be understood that it is because of enhanced purchasing power of people, an effect of fast-expanding economy. However, the president said that effective steps are also being taken to check price spiral.. Pakistan, he said, would continue to move forward on the path high economic growth despite soaring oil prices and effects of earthquake.
The president said, “ It is because of good economic health of the country that we have been able to launch 15 mega project like Gwadar Port, Gomalzam dam,kachi canal,Rannie canal,Marani Dam and number of highways projects across the country.” The public welfare projects are being given special attention , the president said and added that the Government has increased Public Sector Development Programme allocation from Rs 100 billion to Rs 300 billion”.