The support of KP’s prime minister, Ali Amin Gandapur, for the dead project of the Kalabagh dam has caused a storm. Its support of the dam is contrary to popular public opinion not only in Sindh and Baluchistan but also in its own province.
Apparently depending on addressing provincial reserves to the controversial hydroelectric project in the Indo, their support for the dam, opposed by the provincial assemblies of Sindh, KP and Baluchistan in the not so distant past, has also baffled his own party. PTI leaders of KP and Sindh quickly repudiated their statements. Asad Qaiser said Mr. Gandapur’s statement did not reflect the party’s policy. “The party has always made it clear that there should be no controversial project. At this time, there is a need to strengthen the Federation,” he said. Haleem Adil Sheikh described the proposal as a “dead horse”, which the PTI never supported. The PPP, through Nisar Khuhro, reminded Mr. Gandapur that three provinces had already closed the Kalabagh door.
The irony, however, is that the PML-N government in Punjab, often seen by other federal units such as the force behind the project, was found in a rare agreement with Mr. Gandapur, and his information minister hastened to counteract the great granerness of reckless of the CM in the name of his party. It exposes deep provincial failures: what is considered a need in Punjab is seen as one sale by the other provinces.
The support of Mr. Gandapur to the Kalabah dam comes immediately after a plea of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during a recent visit to the Nanowal Flood District, for a consensus on new water deposits to combat the challenges of climate change and treat recurrent floods.
While the movement to mention the Kalabagh dam again runs the risk of opening old wounds, the cry of new deposits supports how deeply our elites are trapped in old and redundant concepts. As if we need it, the effort to relive a missing project is proof that our rulers are not able to think beyond physical solutions for our climatic challenges. Is this due to the lack of imagination or massive money involved in such schemes, or both?
Pakistan, which is among the 10 main countries most vulnerable to the impact of climate change, desperately needs solutions to its problems of water scarcity and droughts, devastating floods, erosion of the Delta del Indo, which is displacing local communities, etc. These problems cannot be solved by stopping the river flow through the dams.
At a time when Pakistan needs unity more than ever, with floods causing devastation in various parts of the country and an economy on the edge, it is crucial that our rulers begin to think beyond the brick and mortar structures, if, in fact, they want to solve our growing climate -related challenges.
Posted in Dawn, September 4, 2025
