HYDERABAD, Aug 12: The Sindh Agricultural Forum has condemned what it called an irresponsible and threatening statement of Punjab Water Council chairman Hamid Malhi on the Kalabagh dam issue.

In a statement issued here on Friday, the forum’s secretary-general Nazeer Ahmad Memon said Mr Malhi had gone too far by demanding that people opposing the Kalabagh dam be hanged and action taken and action against A. N. G. Abbasi, chairman of the water committee.

He said such provocative statements could widen the gulf between Sindh and Punjab.

Unfortunately, he said, several disputes existed between the two provinces, especially the Kalabagh dam and water distribution. He, however, maintained that people of the provinces, particularly democratic forces, wanted to settle the disputes on the basis of justice and fairplay.

Mr Memon said Sindh had a strong case with regard to unfair distribution of water. He claimed that the Kalabagh dam would play havoc with agriculture and environment of Sindh because no water would be available in the Indus River system after its construction.

He said Sindh had proposed viable substitutes such as conservation of water, rehabilitation of the irrigation network, lining of canals and sub-canals, promotion of water efficient crops and improved irrigation methods. He observed that these proposals would not only save billions of rupees to be spent on the dam but also conserve more water than the storage capacity of the dam. He said it would also improve environment, riverine areas and the Indus delta.

He alleged that by insisting on construction of the Kalabagh dam, Punjab had demonstrated that it had no respect for legitimate rights and interests of other federating units.

He said Sindh’s intellectuals, farming community and civil society activists expected from democratic and progressive parties of Punjab to take notice of the statement of Mr Malhi.

AWARD: Prof (Dr) Iqbal Bhanghar, director of the National Centre of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, University of Sindh has been awarded “Prof (Dr) Attaur Rehman gold medal 2005 in Chemistry” by the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, Islamabad, for his outstanding research work in the field of chemistry.