A hungry man will become mercenary
terrorist used by foreign agencies
Earth is a unique planet in the
universe. Its three-fourth area is covered with Water. Man is a unique creature
created by God in the universe and is gifted with Conscience to know what is good and what
is bad. The Quran reveals:-
“And He it is Who hath created
man from water” (25:54)
“Allah
made every living thing of water” (21:50)”
“And
Allah hath created every animal of water. (
This shows God created life out
of Water on earth to create humankind and made water as the source of his survival.
Man basically depends on Water, land and air to survive.
Pakistan is a land gifted with
enough water, excellent land and hard working farmers to produce food, creates
jobs, earn money and create conditions of peace. Pakistan has developed the
largest contiguous canal irrigation system in the world about 150 years ago.
The 180 million population of Pakistan depends on irrigated agriculture to
produce food for survival and earn source of living. Pakistan exports
agricultural products to the world besides meeting its food requirements and
other needs for agro-based industry.
For maintaining peace in the
region and in the world, the development of water to produce food, provide
jobs, bring prosperity is pre-requisite. This will permanently eradicate
terrorism. An earning and well-to-do- man, will never become terrorist to earn
source of living.
It is pre-requisite that for
water development, avoiding corruption, and increasing efficiency, excellent
governance is required. Moreover, for water development there should be no
dirty political interference. For smooth water development, a Master Plan must be
prepared and its implementation should be provided in the Constitution for
execution, within a specified time.
More over this country is highly negligent
in its water development. It suffers heavily due to many water issues, like
floods, salinity, silting of reservoirs. Water shortage, Power shorted and food
shortage since it is created. Moreover, Water Accord and Indus Waters Treaty
are almost failure. Lands are getting saline and out of cultivation due to lack
of drainage. These issues severely affected Pakistan economically besides affecting
the whole world directly and indirectly. The negligent state is a burden on
other nations. Poor governance invites terrorism but terror is never eradicated.
Huge Powers like Russia and USA invited trouble without foreseeing the consequences,
as billions and billions of dollars are wasted in wars to fight terrorism, but
war is never won after killing, and dislocating large population. On the
contrary war is exaggerated.
Alternately, if 15% money of the
long war was spent on Pakistan education and on its water developed, there
would have been no terror in Pakistan. Moreover, Kashmir dispute is also water
war, forcibly occupied by India. This dispute is not solved by UN for 60 years.
It is a time bomb for 2050. Kashmir is sign of UN failure. Islam teaches a
culture of peace, equity and justice. The Quran teaches;
“If you kill one mankind is like if you have killed all
mankind”. “If you have saved one mankind is like if you have saved all
mankind”.
Pakistan’s Water issues of
destructive nature caused poverty, ignorance and terrorism. Water Development
has shown change in culture and not the wars
A recent example of this fact is
quoted in case of Gomal Dam Project completed in 2012, though the network of canal
system is in progress with the USAID. The people of Kulachi Tehsil known as
Gandapur Tribe, touching its boundary with South Waziristan Agency were very
poor. They had no source of income except cutting fuel wood from the fields.
They used to sell their lands at the rate of Rs 2 to Rs 50 per Kanal. 0ne acre has 8 Kanals. Most of the young men joined the nearby
Taliban in South Waziristan Agency as adventurers. After the construction of
Gomal Dam, all young men came back to develop their lands as the value of land
per Kanal has reached from Rs40,000 to RS 110000/-. They are busy developing
their lands. Great change in their culture has been noticed. Similar is the
case of the poor farmers of Chashma Right Bank Canal in D.I Khan District. It
totally changed the culture of the people of D.I. Khan. This shows prosperity
through water development, swiftly changes the culture of the whole area. Let
us use this methods for peace as it is popular, humane, and the permanent source
of living rather wars, destruction, devastation, killing, waste of money,
destruction of economy and creating hatred against humankind.
Pakistan’s main water
and power issues are;
*
Mismanagement of canal irrigation
system that is 150 years old, has highly incompatible canal design to match
agricultural water requirements of today, besides highly wasteful, wasting about
50 per cent of the water, out of about 100 maf that enters the network of canals.
This needs modernization of the canal irrigation system to save huge quantity
of water and irrigate more area to feed the rapidly growing population. The
canal irrigation system has become obsolete.
* Moreover, floodwater wastage ranges
between 122.804 maf to 0.281 maf each year. On the average the floodwater
wasted to sea is 35 maf. This shows Pakistan must build many dams to store
floodwater for irrigation and power generation. Pakistan has imposed self
poverty on itself.
* This essentially needs to build
the 35 maf, multipurpose, Katzarah Dam on the Indus that will store huge floodwater
going waste to sea, serve as flood control structure on the Indus, generate
power and serve as Water Shed management Dam to prevent silt, and prolong the
life of Basha Dam and all dams on the downstream.
* It essentially needs to build
the 8.5 maf, multipurpose, Guroh Dop Dam on Punjkora River, a major tributary
of Swat River. This will store water, generate power and control floods in
Kabul River.
If the above two dams were built in time, Pakistan
would have been safe against the devastating floods of 2010 and destructive
rainwater of 2011. There would have been no crippling load shedding. There
would have been no water shortage, besides no rapid silting of dams.
* To build substitute project for
Kalabagh Dam by changing its wrong design and adverse effects on provinces by providing
new concept of low dam-cum-high Fateh barrage
at an Ele: 700 . This will cost about $2 billion and build within two
years and 6 months. This will produce power on run-of-the-river from about 2000
MW to 6000 MW. It requires no land acquisition, no cost of compensation, and no
population movement.
* To build All Pakistan Grand
Canal, branching from Chashma Barrage and fed by Katzarah Dam to irrigate the
3.5 million acres of barren land of Kachi Plain in Baluchistan. This Project
discovered by me in 1961 is extraordinarily vital to develop Baluchistan. All
the above projects were discovered by me in 1961. Pakistan wasted time and
money by taking off Kachi canal from Mithan Kot. It failed and abandoned.
* Regarding Basha Dam on the
Indus, the World Bank has refused to fund it, asking Pakistan to get NOC from
India. The World Bank has ignored the fact given by Senator John Kerry that
India has built 32 hydraulic structures on Pakistani Rivers in the disputed
territory of Occupied Kashmir and is building more dams. It is very unfortunate
that the World Bank did not object in case of India who built dozens
dams/hydraulic structures without getting NOC from Pakistan.. This obviously
seems to be the political interference at that level. Please refer to John
Kerry report:
“that India has acquired the ability to store enough water to limit the
supply of water to Pakistan at critical moment in the growing season”.
* The refusal to finance Basha
Dam by the World Bank is in spite of the fact that Pakistan suffers due to
acute shortage of water and the crippling load shedding. Moreover, Pakistan has
built dams on the Indus, under the Indus Waters Treaty at Tarbela, Mangla and
Chashma. This means the World Bank violated the Indus Waters Treaty by not
financing a multipurpose dam on the Indus as Replacement to Tarbela. Pakistan also
lacks mega dam sites on the Indus except Basha Dam and Katzarah Dam. Other dam
sites on the Indus are for power generation. There are no dam sites on Kabul
River in Pakistan. NO dam sites on
Jehlum River and Chenab Rivers in Pakistan to store floodwaters going waste to
sea.
* Moreover, the storage-based Water
Accord, signed in 1991, is not yet implemented due to lack of storage dams. The
result is acute water and hydro-power shortage prevailing in spite of Water
Accord.
* The site for the Kalabagh Dam
Project proposed by WAPDA at the very end of the Indus valley in fifty’s was
unsuitable. Therefore, it became highly controversial politically. Also the
design of Kalabagh Dam became controversial technically between the Project
consultant and WAPDA. As a result, 50 years status quo was created by WAPDA. WAPDA
adopted a policy of “Kalabagh Dam or no dam”. The feasibility of Basha Dam was
prepared in 1981 but WAPDA did not build the dam because of Kalabagh
controversy. This created water and power crises.
* Storage in Pakistan is
subjected to rapid silting due to no watershed management. Storage under the
Indus Waters Treaty at Tarbala, Mangla and Chashma are silted by 6.5 maf and
there is no replacement storage built so far. This will create more water and
power shortage in future.
* Pakistan, on the average waste
water to sea of about 35 maf each year. The range of wastage is between 122.804
maf to 0.787 maf. This shows the Indus River is highly erratic. Therefore it
needs to build several storage dams to support irrigated agriculture, provide
jobs, bring prosperity and create food for its rapidly growing population and for
export. This will prevent terrorism.
* For no dams, in 2010, about 22%
of Pakistan was destroyed causing loss of $ billions in property and killed
2000 people, besides displacing millions of population. Again in 2011, rains
hit the same areas causing more destruction.
* The other serious issue faced
by Pakistan is the salinity, sodicity, and water logging in the Indus basin
irrigated lands, rendering about 20 million acres of irrigated lands out of
cultivation. The world’s largest irrigation system is without its drainage
system since its construction, about 150 years ago. The saline drainage
effluent is accumulated as groundwater. Unfortunately, the drainage effluent that
becomes groundwater is pumped and used for the irrigation of lands due to shortage
of canal water. This injects another 350 million tons of injurious salts in the
soil each year.
* WAPDA started two drainage
schemes naming, SCARP and NDP on wrong concepts. Both schemes failed wasting
billions of dollars. After that WAPDA abandoned the drainage schemes as a bad
job. The colossal canal irrigation system is now without drainage system.
* During the partition of India,
Pakistan was compensated with a dam on the Indus at (Tarbela) and a dam on Jhelum
River at (Mangla). Both these dams rapidly silted up by 6.5 maf. This is a
great loss of water. On the contrary, India was allowed to divert the perennial
flows of two eastern rivers that are Ravi and Bias, depriving Pakistan of its
perennial flow and gave in return time-based storage water. Pakistan was given part-time storage-based
non-perennial water for a limited period depending on the life of dam. Who will
now compensate this huge loss of 6.5 maf of water periodically occurring all
the time?
* In 1959, I discovered Khajuri
Katch dam site on Gomal River. The site was highly appreciated by our
consultants, namely HARZA International. Work started on the dam. Unfortunately
there was no progress. The dam was only completed in 2012 that is after 52
years delay. The canal network is now being completed with the help of the
Government of USA.
* In 1961, I was appointed in
Dams investigation Division. I discovered 12 mega, multipurpose dam sites.
WAPDA, ignored these dams. All these projects are unique some of these are
quoted above.
