This dam thing

Suddenly the whole of Pakistan seems to be obsessed with building a controversial dam. Of all people, the Chief Justice is promoting the building of Diamer Bhasha dam as if his life depends upon it. He's gone so far as to imply that opponents of the dam are enemies of the country and will be taken to task. I myself have been accused of being on India's payroll whenever I have opposed this mega dam. The other day I shared a post on how Israel has managed to have surplus water despite not building any dams. The response was "Indian-funded  agenda". It's really depressing the way our Punjabi-speaking majority has become so blind that they cannot see that the Indus delta's ecosystem is being destroyed gradually by shortage of water in the Indus.

The question arises, what has the Chief Justice got to do with dams? Why isn't he doing anything to settle the two million pending cases in his courts? What is his agenda? Every penalty that he imposes as a fine is ordered to be deposited in his dam fund. Justice Faez Issa yesterday differed with his brother judges and held that the fine in a case  should not be put in the dam fund but should be given to the Edhi Foundation. I expect this good judge will soon be described as "Anti-Pakistan" and "Pro-India" by the hysterical supporters of the dam.

Just examining the cost of the dam should be enough to convince any sane person that it is nonviable. Its present cost is estimated to be 16 billion dollars. By the time it is completed (if ever), the cost will have risen to 28 billion dollars. It is situated on a fault line, exposing it to collapse if there is a major earthquake in the area. Yet our so-called wise leaders want to go ahead and build it, despite the enormous risk to neighboring areas in case of the dam collapsing.

Today I was called an Indian agent by some people belonging to the largest province in the country. When a nation has become so intolerant that its people cannot bear to hear any opinion which is contrary to theirs, the future of that nation is very bleak.