Pakistan: YAC holds protest against construction of dam on Indus

In growing protests against Pakistan government’s plan for construction of Bhasha dam on Indus River, activists of Youth Action Committee held a large protest demonstration and observed token hunger strike outside the local press club on Monday.

Led by Committee chairperson Sindhu Nawaz Ghangro, the protestors told the media that being lower riparians, people of Sindh were owners of the Indus, and hence, they would resist construction of any new dam on the river because it would spell disaster for the province.

They demanded the government shelve plans for the construction of the dam on Indus and if it failed to do so, they would expand their protest and block highways.

They protestors alleged that attempts were made in past as well to build another dam to irrigate lands of one province and that it was also being done at the cost of Sindh.

“Another dam on the river would inflict massive losses on growers of Sindh who had already suffered a lot due to water scarcity and theft of available water”, they said.

Recently, Pakistan signed a Rs. 442 billion contract with a joint venture of a China Power (Chinese state-run firm) and the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO-a commercial arm of Pakistan’s military) for the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha dam. If built, the dam would fulfil the increasing water and electricity requirements of the country.

The project was approved in 2010, however, it suffered major setbacks due to opposition from India as a major part of the dam is located in Gilgit-Baltistan, one of the disputed territories of India.