By: Shaukat Baloch
Some Baloch think that the reason for this is that there are no bungalows of army generals there and therefore there is no need to take any precautions to prevent any such a disaster. In my e-mail dated 12th February, 2005 on this subject I had mentioned the following four possible causes of the bursting of the Shadi Kor Dam:
1. The original design of the dam was defective because an incompetent designer, who was given this task only on the basis of favoritisms or after receipt of a cash commission from the designer by the concerned officer, made it in a defective manner,
2. Non-evacuation of the water from the dam even when it had been filled up to the dangerous limits after the rains, due to criminal negligence,
3. Non-evacuation of the water after it had been filled up to the dangerous limits, in consequence of a conspiracy to let the disaster occur with the willful design of diverting the attention of the people of the province and the world, from Sui crisis.
4. If the cracks in the dam were already in the knowledge of the authorities, as so reported in a section of the press, to let the disaster occur in order to later oblige the people with aid in cash etc. by the government and the relief work by the army.
Today it appears that out of the four causes mentioned above, the last two are the most probable ones for the following reasons:
After Shadi Kor Dam, Challery Dam and Gawar Bagh Dam have also been swept away by water. Because the same person did not design all the three dams and so far none has blamed the architects, it appears that the defective design was not the cause of the disaster. Criminal negligence could not be the cause of bursting of all the three dams as the example of Shadi Kor was already before the engineers of the last two dams.
Thus one can infer that negligence was not the cause of the destruction of the Shadi Kor Dam as well. By the process of elimination, we come to the conclusion that the cause?Ts No. 3 and 4 above-mentioned were the most probable ones. Gates of all the three dams were, intentionally, not opened well in time so as to let them being swept away completely and cause havoc. This conclusion is fortified by the following behaviour of Musharaf:
General Musharaf continues to be under national and international pressure, particularly by the human rights organisations, for not taking any tangible action against the criminals involved in the Sui rape case that has badly tarnished the image of the army and particularly of General Musharaf himself. Some thing was to be done immediately to restore this image. When rains came in Balochistan, Gen. Musharaf pounced at the opportunity believing it to be God-sent. This is proved from the words he selected in his speech when he visited Makran yesterday. Musharaf said, ?oThose who are against the army are sitting in their houses.
They should now come forward and help the people. Jawans (again poor Jawans not the officers or the generals) of Pakistan army have come forward to rescue and rehabilitate the affected people. Pakistan army is not the enemy of the people but those who talk against the army are the enemy of the people. One lakh rupees will be given to the family of each deceased victim. Tents, medicines, food, clean drinking water etc. etc. will also be supplied to the affected people?.?
Challenging the nationalists to come forward to help the victims proves the mala- fide of the general. Is he paying a single penny from his own pocket for the relief work? Musharaf knows that all further relief work will be done partly by the army and partly by the functionaries of the provincial government e.g. assessment of the damage suffered by the individuals and the families, sanction and payment of the agriculture loans, payment of the compensation to the families whose dear-ones have lost their lives.
All this activity will oblige the people and will also restore the image of the army. The general also thinks that the catastrophe will divert the attention of the people of Balochistan from the demands of the nationalists, which would give him time to build a garrison in Sui.
May be the general is successful in his designs and actually gets some breathing space due the destruction of the dams. But how callous of him and his advisors to intentionally cause such a big loss to life and property only to avoid the demands of the nationalists and restore the image of his unpopular army despised by the people of Balochistan.
Shaukat Baloch,
President, Punjab Democratic Front
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