KP lawyers resent LHC verdict on Kalabagh dam

PESHAWAR: Lawyers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Saturday resented verdict of the Lahore High Court (LHC) regarding construction of the Kalabagh dam and asked the Supreme Court to declare it null and vide.

A meeting of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association held at the PHC bar room was presided over by its president Abdul Latif Afridi.

Senior lawyers Barrister Baacha and Barrister Zahoorul Haq also addressed the meeting and expressed their resentment over the LHC judgment directing the federal government to build the controversial dam.

The meeting, through a unanimous resolution, expressed dissatisfaction over the verdict. It termed the construction of Kalabagh dam against the spirit of democracy as three provinces out of four in Pakistan had rejected the project.

The participants said the arguments mentioned by the LHC were based on assumptions mainly attached to the interest of Punjab.

They said the petition decided by the LHC was not maintainable as Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had not been made party to it.

A resolution adopted at the meeting requested the Supreme Court and the federal government to intervene and remove the doubts created by the LHC verdict as it would weaken the federation.

“We strongly plead that the Constitution itself provides the mechanism to resolve such disputes and we urge that constitutional deviation may be avoided,” the resolution added.

Meanwhile, Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) chief Aftab Sherpao on Saturday said the Lahore High Court (LHC) judgment on building the Kalabagh dam would have serious repercussion for the federating units.

“We need to bring all the ethnic groups of the nation closer, not to pitch them against each other,” he told party workers here.

The QWP chief added that work on Diamer-Basha dam had already been started and, therefore, efforts must be made for its timely construction instead of raising controversial issues.

He said the smaller provinces had opposed Kalabagh dam and passed unanimous assembly resolutions against its construction, but the LHC order would create friction among the provinces.

Aftab Sherpao said the people of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had reservations regarding the controversial dam and their views should not be ignored.

He said raising such issues would distract government’s attention from major problems facing the country. He urged the provincial leadership of all parties to create consensus on the issue and work together for steering the province and country out of the prevailing crises.

On this occasion, several workers from Awami National Party, Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz joined the QWP and reposed confidence in the leadership of Aftab Sherpao.

Posted in: Peshawar news