November 25, 2018
By Saeed Qureshi
The people of Pakistan ought to be
grateful to the incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan, Honorable Mian Saqib Nisar
on his historic mission of raising funds in UK and USA for building dams that
are indispensable for both the people and crops. He has proven to be a
true and patriotic son of the soil and a thoroughly honest dispenser of
justice. In Manchester’s (UK) gathering the honorable chief justice expressed
his views on the rapid and huge collection of the funds for the much needed
Bhasha and Diamir dams in these words, “all Pakistanis were taking the lead
in contributing funds for construction of dams and he only witnessed this
passion during the 1965 War.”
We are aware that the primary responsibility
and mandate of the incumbent Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar is to dispense legal
justice to the aggrieved. However, his latest undertaking and mission focused
on raising funds for building the stalled “Dam Diamir Bhasha and Mohmand Dam” is
sublime. He announced that several dams would-be built-in Pakistan to overcome
the scarcity of water for both drinking and agricultural purposes.
He
emphatically pledged that no one can stop the national objective of attaining
prosperity and overcoming the water scarcity all over Pakistan. Is pledge would
go down in the history of Pakistan as momentous in nation building.
Diamir Bhasha and Mohmand Dam is essential
for agricultural output, household use and drinking for the people of Pakistan.
This project has been stalled and remained on the tenterhooks for a variety of
reasons one of which is the lack and non-availability of huge funds.
The countrywide contribution to the fund
stood at Rs 7.09 billion while the remaining Rs 880.23 million were contributed
by the expatriate Pakistanis, according to an update issued by the State Bank
of Pakistan (SBP). In due course more, funds and donations would be coming in.
This money has been transferred to the Dam’s fund. The pouring of donations indeed
is a show of trust in the person of the chief justice and his absolute honesty and
personal integrity.
It surmises that any other person of
significance both morally and financially uprightness would not have achieved
such a brilliant milestone as the chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar has done. This
hallmark is also blissful and a feather in the cap of the PTI government more
so for the prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan.
Imran Khans’ deadline of hundred days for
unfurling an agenda of reconstructing Pakistan is about to expire. One can feel
that the gigantic undertaking of Imran Khan could have been looked upon as an
unachievable goal if the illustrious chief justice would not have jumped into
fray with a mission of the same nature.
The redeeming feature of the ongoing sublime
mission is that the funds collected by the incumbent government through Chief
Justice honorable Mian Saqib Nisar would be sufficient
to convince the international donors and loan giving agencies such as IMF to
open their coffers as well to Pakistan and dole out credits on agreeable terms
and interest for Pakistan. Per say if that doesn’t happen the chief justice and
other patriotic stalwarts may again jump into the fray and fulfil the
monumental cost through loans from the friendly countries as well as from the contributions
of the people of Pakistan living both within Pakistan and in foreign countries.
One can admire the bubbling spirit of
patriotism and enormous national aspiration and sacrifice of the Pakistanis
domestically and living abroad. The only thing that is needed is for them to be
convinced that the cause for such donation of money was nation-building,
prosperity and progress of the people and advancement of the country.
In the past such fund raising and
collection of funds for various causes were mounted but ultimately those were
left halfway or entirely abandoned as the money was gobbled or miscarried to
the other projects or simply pocked by the collectors.
The water level for both agricultural and human
consumption is dwindling and receding to the level 400 ft to 1500 in various
lands mostly prominently in Quetta the capital of Balochistan. It has reached the lowest level causing draught
for the crops as well as scarcity for the human consumption.
After Quaid e Azam, here is another leader
though non-political who has undertaken with courage, dedication and
conviction, a national cause so essential and indispensable for the prosperity and
economic viability of the country. Hopefully after his retirement Chief Justice
Honorable Mian Saqib Nisar would keep serving as the head of a new political
party to be in power and thus to bring Pakistan in the comity of advanced and
developed nations.
What is Diamer-Bhasha Dam
Diamer-Bhasha Dam is a concrete-filled gravity dam,
in the preliminary stages of construction, on the River Indus
in Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan.
Its foundation stone was laid by the then Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani of Pakistan on 18 October
2011. Upon completion, Diamer-Bhasha Dam would be the highest roller-compacted concrete (RCC) dam in the
world.[3] The
dam site is situated near a place called "Bhasha" in
Gilgit-Baltistan's Diamer District, hence the name.
Upon
completion, Diamer-Bhasha Dam would (i) produce 4,500 megawatts
of electricity through environmentally clean hydropower generation; (ii) store
an extra 8,500,000 acre feet (10.5 km3) of water for Pakistan that would
be used for irrigation and drinking; (iii) extend the life of Tarbela Dam
located downstream by 35 years; and (iv) control flood damage by the River
Indus downstream during high floods.
However, in response to using Basha Dam to sideline the Kalabagh Dam,
Engineer Anwar Khurshid has stated that "Bhasha dam is no substitute for
Kalabagh dam not because of its altitude which is high enough, but because no
irrigation canals can be taken out from it because of the hilly terrain. No
canals can be taken out from any dam on the Indus except from Kalabagh Dam.
It
will have a height of 272 meters spillway with fourteen gates each
11.5 m x 16.24 m. The gross capacity of the reservoir will be 8,100,000-acre
feet (10.0 km3), with a live storage of 6,400,000-acre feet
(7.9 km3). Two underground powerhouses are being proposed, one on each
side of the main dam having six turbines on each side with a total installed
capacity of 4500 MW. (Wikipedia)
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