Unfortunately, self-serving short-sightedness prevailed among the politicians and dictators who ruled the country. No one looked beyond self interest, and all tired to work on building their own hold on power and wealth instead of creating sustainable growth and strong economy for the country. One of the foremost and critical needs of the country was water, which we needed to save and preserve. However, no ruler truly worked on long-term policy to save the country from water crises. Those who built dams went into agreement with India which people say was detrimental to the country as we gave away too much. Others never tried to build consensus and build dams for much needed water for agriculture, electricity, and most importantly flood control. The two dams we have are losing capacity fast due to silting. Even the barrages, especially Guddu and Sukkur barrage are now old and in dire need of repairs. Currently, the situation is that on the one hand, we suffer from drought half of the year and devastated by floods the other half. On the other hand, India is building dams on our rivers under the pretext that we let the water go waste in sea and their argument seems working in international court. It is good that the current government is paying some attention to the issue. I hope and pray that is not just a short-term interest that subsides like the past. Also, this is not something that the government alone and do. All parties must come together and work to build consensus to build dams in the country or our survival may be at risk. The sooner we realize the gravity of the situation, the better it is.
Raja Shafaatullah
Islamabad
