Chairman of Indus Basin Water Council Pakistan (IBWC) Hafiz Zahoor-ul-Hassan Dahar and Secretary Muhammad Burhan Khan Lashari said that Government had extorted Rs 33 billion from the power consumers in the name of Neelum-Jhelum Power Project. Later this project was abandoned pretending the paucity of funds and non-availability of investors.
Bhasha dam was inaugurated thrice by different rulers to hoodwink the masses but it was not yet executed. Addressing a press conference here on Friday they said that India, "working in conjunction with the Jewish lobby", is using most of the river waters, causing a shortage of food, water and electricity in Pakistan. They argued that all six rivers-Indus, Chenab, Jhelum, Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi-flow through northern India into Pakistan. Under the pact, the waters of three rivers-the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum, which pass through Jammu and Kashmir-are to be used by Pakistan, while India has rights to the waters of the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi before these three enter Pakistani territory. The Chenab is the key tributary, as it carries the waters of the rest four rivers into the Indus.
They warned: "Insisting on our water rights with regard to India must be one of the cornerstones of our foreign policy. They feared that India could exert control over the waters. Such control could be used to injure the Pakistani economy and livestock, or could be used to cause floods in Pakistan by the release of water during times of war. Discussions of Pakistan's concerns are most often centralised around the Baglihar dam, though it is only one of the several water projects being developed by India in its part of Jammu and Kashmir.
They said that India is controlling the river waters to strangulate Pakistani agriculture, which could affect Pakistani exports and increase its dependency on food imports. Pakistani commentators fear future war with India may break out over water disputes.





















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