Islamabad:
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday emphasized the importance of affordable electricity and agricultural growth for the country’s confidence and instructed the affected authorities to accelerate the work of the diameer Bhasha dam by removing all bottlenecks.
The Prime Minister was chairman of a high-level meeting on water resources and the construction of Diamer Bhasha Dam, and said the development of large-scale water infrastructure was important to improve storage capacity, ensure irrigation supply and reduce the effect of flooding.
He emphasized that national self-sufficiency was closely linked to an effective system of water management and energy production, which required timely implementation of projects such as Diamer Bhasha Dam.
The meeting attended federal ministers Ahsan Iqbal, Engineer Amir Muqam, Azam Nazeer Tarar and Moeen Wattoo; Advisor to Prime Minister Rana Sanaullah; Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltist Gulable Khan; and other senior officials.
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Earlier, while he turned to a peace Jirga in Peshawar, the Pime Minister repeated Pakistan’s right to any drop of water in line with the Indus water treaty and announced plans to store water in key projects such as Diamer-Bhasha and Dasu Dams.
He said a decision on the water question would be made by inviting all four provinces of discussions on how to increase the water reserves so that India’s malicious design is buried.
Tensions between India and Pakistan over the Indus Waters Treaty escalated following the Pahagam attack in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), which India accused of Pakistan without presenting evidence -a claim Islamabad categorically rejected, who instead called for an independent investigation.
However, India chose to increase the tension by unilaterally suspending the Indus Waters Treaty and closing the border crossing to Wagah-Attari. In response, Pakistan suggested to suspend the Simla Agreement of 1972.
