ISLAMABAD: The prime minister expressed ‘full confidence’ in the leadership of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), a member of the ruling coalition, on Monday, a day after the Chaudhrys of Gujrat met Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif amid the opposition’s efforts to table a no-confidence vote against Imran Khan in the National Assembly.
Sharif met former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, once confidants of the Sharif family, after a period of 14 years as part of their efforts to muster support for the vote to oust Khan.
Those with knowledge of the meeting told Pakistan Today the meeting lasted for over an hour during which the National Assembly opposition leader sought PML-Q’s support.
Sharif observed that the party, despite being an ally of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) governments in the Centre and in Punjab, expressed on various occasions concerns over its policies. The time had come “to make a decision,” he was quoted as telling the hosts.
However, on Monday Khan, who was addressing the International Symposium on Pakistan’s Hydropower Development in Global Perspective, appeared unfazed by the meeting.
Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi has assured the government “we should not worry about these meetings,” the prime minister said. Elahi, who is the son of Pervez, was also in attendance and also spoke before Khan did.
“Those who are worried [about their political future] are holding meetings with Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and inquiring after his health,” he added.
Khan said he had no doubt regarding the Q-League leaders and his party was “not concerned [about the meetings] at all”.
Workers of his party had become “battle-hardened” because of the difficulties they had gone through in the last 25 years, the prime minister asserted.
He said the under-construction dams would double the water storage capacity and help address the issues related to climate change.
He said China has constructed 5,000 dams but Pakistan only had two dams and they, too, were built in the ’60s.
“Due to the official negligence, Pakistan suffered [water] losses. Since it uses imported fuel for electricity generation, whenever petrol prices go up in the international market, electricity rates also rise in Pakistan and the fiscal burden increases on the public,” he said.
“If we had generated hydroelectricity, we would not have faced the present price hikes triggered by an increase in fuel prices,” he added.
Pakistan enjoyed tremendous potential for hydroelectricity but it was producing half of its electricity needs from furnace oil, he said, adding unfortunately due to a lack of long term planning, the nation was facing the problems it was experiencing now.
He noted that China was making rapid progress and its biggest strength was long-term planning. “They do not think in terms of elections after every five years. I am proud that our government is making long-term planning rather than thinking about elections.”
“Today we are celebrating the decade of dams. We need water storage,” the prime minister said, observing problems arose among provinces because of water issues.
Khan questioned: “As our population is increasing, we have to cultivate more land. If there is no storage how can we cultivate the land?”
“We have fertile land in Dera Ismail Khan and we only need water. If we arrange water for land there, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will not need to import food or wheat from other provinces.
Balochistan possessed millions of acres of uncultivated land and if we can arrange water, we can export cotton and other crops. The land is also available in Thar,” he said.
The use of tunnel technology for dams was necessary for Pakistan. The mountains of Pakistan were incomparable in the world and could help generate huge revenue from tourism, he said.
The mountainous area of Switzerland was half in size of the northern areas of Pakistan but it was generating revenue of $60-70 billion from tourism alone. Switzerland had the latest tunnel technology which made their mountainous areas very accessible, he observed.
The prime minister said the Kalabagh Dam was at a good site but the people of Sindh would have to be convinced about it otherwise anti-Pakistan forces would instigate them on the issue.
“We have to scientifically explain to them that the dam will be beneficial for them. We are a federation and we should try to take provinces with us,” he added.
