KalabaghDAM

For the past so many years of its planning and designing, the objectives and goals of Kalabagh Dam (KBD) have been shrouded in secrecy, and the Federal Government’s blind following of the project, against the wishes of the three provinces of the federation, has made it the most controversial issue of national integrity.

The project is being pleaded as a turning point in the direction of national development, whereas the provinces see it as step towards the diversion of common resources towards the development of one province (Punjab), leaving all the rest to the possible negative impacts perceived from the project.

The matter becomes more complex in the present state of better possible alternatives, having greater development potentials and lesser negative impacts on any of the federating units of Pakistan.

One of the reasons for creating controversy and difference of opinion on the project is attributed to WAPDA’s failure to adequately consult the provinces at the project planning and design stage, since the provinces were kept in complete darkness about the design parameters of the dam, till the completion of its detailed design in 1984-85.

To further fuel the issue, statements from responsible officials of the federal government, the Punjab and WAPDA, first declared Kalabagh Dam as only a storage dam to offset the storage loss of Tarbela and Mangla Dams, due to sedimentation. Followed by reasons of rise in fuel costs and the consequent increased costs due to thermal generation, pleading the ultimate requirement of cheap hydel power. And, to further confuse the issue, the project was declared to have plans for a Left and Right Bank canals for irrigation purposes.

In the backdrop of all these events, the role of beneficiaries/affectees has been totally ignored. For which, they have every right to ask for the public disclosure of all the relevant facts regarding selection criteria, planning parameters, design guidelines, cost estimates, environmental and socio-economic assessments, government’s priorities, and financing mechanism of the planned construction. And it becomes more important for projects towards the harnessing of shared water resources, like that of River Indus, and for the equitable distribution of their benefits among the federating units as well as their short and long term impacts on their individual as well as collective lives.

Expected Benefits of the KBD Project

The Kalabagh Dam (KBD) has been pleaded by WAPDA as the only possible choice for saving the food and energy starved nation of Pakistan. In this respect, it has worked out the following beneficial aspects of the project:

Enhancement in the Irrigation Water Supply

Enhancement in the Power Generation Capacity

A Critical Analysis of the KBD Project

A lot has been said, and is still being said, both in favour and against the KBD project, and the debate will continue till a final decision on its fate is achieved.

In this respect, the Federal Government & WAPDA, having all the administrative machinery at their disposal, have conducted a number of studies and organized various seminars, for projecting the beneficial aspects of the project and allay fears against its negative impacts.
On the other hand, enlightened professionals and nationalist organizations have, both individually and collectively, researched on the subject and tried to expose the over-shadowed negative aspects of KBD.

Whereas the few benefits of KBD project have been extensively propagated through the wide publicity campaigns of WAPDA, there has been a need to compile the findings of those unknown researchers, who burnt their midnight oil to expose the multiple destructive capacities of Kalabagh Dam.

Building upon the work done by the said researchers, the following pages will present a critical analysis of the KBD project, so as to enable the reader to assess for himself/herself the ultimate utility of the project to Pakistan

General Observations on KBD Project

KBD is the only major project in the history of Pakistan, which has been most strongly opposed by the three, out of the four, provinces for various reasons. In this respect, unanimous resolutions have been passed by their elected Provincial Assembles to reject the viability of the project. Also, in the National Assembly and the Senate, the project has been strongly opposed by the elected representatives.

Apart from the technical flaws, making the construction and operation of the project an ultimate disaster, the people of the three provinces have certain reservations against its viability for the integrity of the country, and their common development.

Some of these reservations are described below:

Reservations of NWFP (Pukhtunkhwa)

Reservations of Baluchistan

Reservations of Sindh

Basic Planning Drawbacks in KBD Project

The KBD project suffers from a multitude of planning and design drawbacks, which makes it the least desired development alternative, out of the various development opportunities available in the Indus Basin.

With the KBD as a test case, the following paragraphs exposes the planning capability of WAPDA and the intelligence level of the decision makers at the top, who are adamant to support and propagate the case of a technically unfeasible dam on River Indus.

Unavailability of Enough Water in the Indus River System

Geophysical and Geological Enviroment of KalaBagh Dam

Location of the Dam on a Fault line

Design Drawbacks in KBD Project

Apart from the inherent planning drawbacks, the KBD also suffers from a variety of technical shortcomings. These vary from selecting a site, having the poorest capacity inflow ratio to that of proposing engineering designs making it the most unpredictable dam to operate.

Some of these aspects of the KBD are briefly discussed in the following paragraphs :

Site with Poor Capacity-Inflow Ratio

Disastrous Sedimentation

Silt Clearance Problems

Uncertain & Inefficient Mode of Operation

Relation of KBD to Tarbela Dam

Backwater Effect on Ghazi-Barotha Power Channel

Unfeasible Right Bank Canal

Short-term Impacts of Kalabagh Dam Project

The KBD is feared to cast its sinister shadows from its very first day of construction. They will vary from the dislocation of a large number of people and the submergence of their lands, houses and settlements, to the ultimate disappearance of long established cultures and ways of life. These are discussed as follows :

Population to be Displaced

Area to be Submerged

Long-term Impacts of Kalabagh Dam Project

Like its short-term impacts, KBD is going to have a long standing extremely injurious impact on the lives of the people both living in the immediate vicinity of project, as well as in the rest of the country.

The details of these impacts would vary in nature and in magnitude, and will appear in different moments of coming times to have devastating effects on the civilization of this whole region.

Some of the most important long-term impacts of the KBD are discussed below :

Increase in Surface Water Salinity

Flooding in Nowshera Valley

Drainage/Water-logging Problems in Nowshera

Failure of Mardan/Swabi SCARPs

Danger of Shallow Wells in Karak turning Brackish

Effect on "KATCHO" in Sindh

Effect on Mangrove Forests in Sindh

Salt Water Intrusion in Sindh

Problem to Agriculture with Increased Seepage

The Issue of Water Distribution as a Replacement Water

Operational Problems of Kalabagh Dam Project

The dam is designed for 28 weeks operation (or equivalent), but the model used for analyzing this aspect of the operation shows that the dam will not work efficiently for anything more than 21 weeks (or possibly less). This has been studied in detail by Saeed. A Rashed in his book "KBD, A Scientific Analysis", and the under-mentioned paragraphs from his work will try to summarize his findings.

Irrigation System Management Problems

The Real Power Generation Potential of KBD Project

Flood Regulation Risks

Economic Impact Analysis of KBD

Economic Impact Analysis of KBD

Economic Impact on Various Provinces of Pakistan

Conclusion

Based on the above technical drawbacks, the project is expected to get the most intense reaction from population to be affected, and disrupt the piece and tranquility of the entire country.

Sane considerations therefore demand that KBD should be dropped in the face of better alternatives.

Legacy

Critics argue that Khan made limited contributions to Pakistan's polarised and corrupt political system. They challenged his claim that he was the major or sole spokesperson for Pashtuns,[41] discounted the benefits of the 1973 constitution and the Simla agreement, and disagreed with his principles of not compromising with dictators. Others argue that if he had compromised with Pakistan's military establishment he may well have ended up Pakistan's Prime Minister but that his principles proved to be his undoing.

Some Pashtun nationalists were also critical of Wali Khan, as many felt that he squandered a chance to unite all Pashtuns in NWFP, Balochistan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas into one large province that could be named Pakhtunkhwa or Pakhtunistan. Khan also faced criticism for his "betrayal of his language" because of his, and the National Awami Party, support for Urdu as the provincial language of instruction in NWFP and Baluchistan (declared in 1972) rather than the majority languages of Pashto and Balochi.[42]

However, in the final analysis, senior Pakistani journalist M.A Niazi summed him up when he wrote:
“ Leaders of Wali Khan's calibre would challenge one of the reasons they trot out to justify their military interventions: the poor quality of civilian leadership. But in the long run, it is the nation as a whole that loses. We have not had so many politicians or statesmen that we can afford to waste such assets. If Wali Khan's potential was not fulfilled, Pakistan lost more than he did.[24] ”

After a long illness, Wali Khan died of a heart attack [36] on 26 January 2006 in Peshawar, Pakistan. He was buried in his ancestral village in Uthmanzai, Charsadda. His funeral was widely attended by members of the public and senior political leaders including Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz; condolence messages were sent from Pakistani President Pervaiz Musharraf, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.[36]

He is survived by his wife Nasim Wali Khan, three daughters and two sons. Asfandyar Wali Khan, his eldest son, true to the political traditions of Wali Khan's family, is a politician in Pakistan and the current President of the Awami National Party

Wali Khan (R) with his father Bacha Khan

In 1942, Khan while still in his teens, joined the Khudai Khidmatgar movement. Soon after, he formally stepped into politics by joining the Indian National Congress where he eventually served as a provincial joint secretary of the party. He was arrested and charged under the Frontier Crimes Regulations, in 1943, at the height of the crackdown against the Quit India Movement. He opposed the 1947 partition of the subcontinent and criticised the British decision to break up India.[6]

His decision to serve in a more prominent political role was said to have been influenced by his elder brother, Ghani Khan's, decision to withdraw from politics. With his father in jail, Khan took over leading his fathers supporters.

Despite his father's efforts against partition and a brief attempt to instead create a new nation called Pakhtunistan, on August 14, 1947, Pakistan came into being. The new nation was divided into two wings (West and East Pakistan), separated by a thousand miles (1500 km) of Indian territory.

Like his father after the creation of Pakistan, Khan agitated for Pashtun autonomy within a Pakistani Federal system, which placed him at odds with government authorities. Imprisoned without charge in 1948, he was freed from in 1953; he immediately started negotiations with the central government to allay apprehensions about the Khudai Khidmatgar.[7] He held talks with then NWFP Chief Minister Sardar Abdul Rashid and Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Bogra. He also held a series of meetings with then Governor General Ghulam Mohammed. These negotiations proved successful and led to the release of hundreds of imprisoned activists belonging to the Khudai Khidmatgar movement. Khan next joined the National Awami Party(NAP) in 1956, a new political party formed by his father along with other progressive and leftist leaders from both wings of Pakistan.[8]

The National Awami Party seemed to be on its way to victory in the 1959 elections,[9] when the civilian President Iskandar Mirza was ousted in a coup by the military, under Commander-in-Chief Ayub Khan. One of Ayub Khan's first decisions after he came to power was to outlaw political activity and imprison politicians. Wali Khan, along with many other politicians at the time, was imprisoned and disqualified from contesting elections or participating in politics as part of this purge.

Criticisms

Khan struggled for most of his life with the twin legacies of his influential father Ghaffar Khan and the perception of his "Anti-Pakistani activities". As a result, he has been criticized for backing separatist ideals as well as causing social unrest in Pakistan. His critics blamed him for alienation of Pashtuns from the rest of Pakistan and for supporting "anti-Pakistani forces."[37] He remained tagged with the title of traitor by the state run media and Pakistan's ruling establishment for much of his political career. However writers like Lawrence Ziring[9] have rejected the charges against him. Syed went a step further, arguing that the clash between the National Awami Party under Wali Khan, "was not a contest between the state of Pakistan and a secessionist force..but was more like a clash of rival political wills".[38]

His supporters disagree, and believe he promoted left of centre progressive and secular politics in Pakistan. Before his arrest in 1975, he was in fact striving for a more national role more in line with his position as Leader of the Opposition in government and he had started campaigning heavily in Punjab and Sind, where he was attracting large crowds.

In his statements he left an ambiguity in his policies, exeplified in 1972 when a journalist questioned his loyalty and his first allegiance, to which his reply was, "I have been a Pashtun for six thousand years, a Muslim for thirteen hundred years, and a Pakistani for twenty-five."[39] However at the same time, before the 1990 general elections, he stated "The survival of the federation is the main issue in this election. Everyone considers themselves a Sindhi or Pashtun or Punjabi first. Nobody considers themselves a Pakistani. There has to be greater provincial autonomy".[40]

He also worked well with many politicians from Punjab including prominent Muslim Leaguers like Sardar Shaukat Hayat Khan and Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi (father of former Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain) and with Baloch politicians especially Sardar Ataullah Mengal and Sherbaz Mazari.[30] He was also tagged with the accusation of being a communist, but was in fact a secular Pashtun nationalist.[30] Khan's falling out with Baloch leader Ghous Bizenjo in the late 1970s can be traced to his disillusionment with Communism.

Khan, and by extension his party and family, maintained a long association with senior leaders in the Congress Party of India because of his father's close association with Mohandas Gandhi. His preference for dialogue over conflict with India and his links to India also strengthened the impression that he was anti-Pakistan amongst the more strident anti-India elements in Punjab. His opposition to the Pakistan-United States backed Afghan jihad and support for Afghan communist President Mohammad Najibullah damaged his standing amongst many conservative Pashtuns and Pakistanis.”

Awami National Party

In July 1986, Wali Khan and other former National Awami Party members formed the Awami National Party (ANP). Khan was elected its first President and Sindhi Nationalist Rasool Baksh Palijo became the first Secretary General of the party.

The ANP, under Wali Khan's presidency, contested the 1988 national elections in alliance with former rivals the Pakistan Peoples' Party of Benazir Bhutto (Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's daughter). The ANP's success in the elections was limited to the NWFP and even then only certain regions of that province. In addition, Wali Khan lost his provincial seat to a PPP candidate, a sign of the decline in the ANP's popularity. The ANP-PPP alliance collapsed in 1989 after a perceived snub by PPP Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and a dispute over ministerial posts and the governorship of NWFP. After joining the opposition, Wali Khan started talks with the Army backed IJI (Islamic Democratic Alliance) and joined the alliance before the 1990 general elections.