PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party’s (ANP) provincial president, Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, has requested Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar not to talk about construction of Kalabagh dam, saying that it is a controversial project and major political forces of the country have clearly opposed it.

“We request the CJP with great respect not to reopen controversial projects like Kalabagh dam,” he said while addressing a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Sunday.

Mr Hoti said no one could deny the fact that the country was facing water shortage and that it needed reservoirs, but Kalabagh dam should not be presented as a solution because it was a controversial project from day one. He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh assemblies had passed resolutions against the construction of Kalabagh dam and Balochistan had expressed solidarity with them on the issue.

Mr Hoti, who served as the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 2008 to 2013 and was elected to the National Assembly from its constituency NA-21 (Mardan-II) in the recently held general election, said that his party welcomed initiatives for construction of dams in the country, but it would continue opposing the Kalabagh dam project.

The ANP leader said that he and his party had great regard for the judiciary, but as the Kalabagh dam project was once again in the news these days, he needed to speak about it and present his party’s stance.

In reply to a question about recent remarks of CJP Nisar that those opposing construction of dams would be tried under Article 6 of the constitution, Mr Hoti said nowhere in the constitution it was mentioned that a person could be tried for treason for disagreement over a project.

“Could anyone please tell me where it is mentioned in the constitution that if someone disagrees over a project he will be considered a traitor,” he said.

Rigging allegations

Mr Hoti reiterated the demand of the opposition parties for an inquiry into allegations of rigging in the July 25 election, asking the government to keep its promise of conducting an investigation.

He said evidence suggested that there were a number of lapses in polling and result compilation processes in the July election, adding that such lapses were never witnessed before. “We need to know the truth as [Prime Minister] Imran Khan had promised an inquiry into allegations of rigging by opposition parties. We want a parliamentary commission comprising members of all parties to take part in the inquiry into rigging allegations. We want to know if people’s mandate was stolen or not.”

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2018