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Published 03 Nov, 2008 12:00am

Shujaat seeks early resolution of water dispute

ISLAMABAD, Nov 2: Pakistan Muslim League-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has called for resolving the water sharing dispute between India and Pakistan under the Indus Water Treaty and warned that failure to do so may lead to an ‘extremely dangerous’ situation, more serious than terrorism, may even result in a war.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, he urged India and Pakistan to honour the treaty signed in 1962 and said that Pakistan had already been deprived of waters from Ravi, Bias and Satlej rivers and the flow was further reduced after India built Baglihar Dam on Chenab, hurting the country’s agricultural sector.

He said that Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had described Kashmir as Pakistan’s lifeline because all rivers flowing into the country originated in Kashmir.

He said that Kashmiri freedom fighters were ‘fighting for Pakistan’ and confidence-building measures would serve no purpose unless the dispute over water sharing was resolved soon.

He said that the water shortage had severely affected southern Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan which might lead to another food crisis.

The country, he said, was already facing a flour shortage and unless it was overcome, the country might face a famine.

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