The water bomb

"    Denial of water to a vast region, including Multan, Jhang, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Okara, Sahiwal, Vehari, Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur and Rahimyar Khan.

"    406 Canals and 1125 Distributaries will become dry, rendering 35 lakh acres of cultivated land barren, and eventually ruining a total of 70 acres of fertile land.

"    The Marala Headworks, through which water from Chenab is poured into River Ravi that had dried up after it went into India's control under the IBT, will stop functioning. The Ravi feeds the Canals along the border, which serve as a most important Defence Line. If Chenab's normal flow stops, Ravi would have no water and the Border Canals would become dry.

The Sindh Tas Water Council Pakistan, which has been engaged since 1984 in the in-depth study of India's designs of denial of water to Pakistan, has discovered that India is actually working on a secret mega-plan that was drawn years ago with the aim of bringing Pakistan to its knees, when the time came, by subjecting it to total starvation of water. This mega-plan is being financed and implemented by a consortium consisting of India and three other countries (one of which is Israel), two multinational companies, one trans-national NGO and three secret agencies.

I was not exaggerating when a few weeks ago I warned our government to beware of India's "Water Bomb."

We have no option now but to urgently take bold and decisive measures against the Indian schemes of subjecting Pakistan to devastation. But, no measures can be effective nor can succeed if Pakistan's policies of giving India the image of a close trading and social partner and a friendly neighbour who poses no threat are not changed.

Indeed, we have seen these misconceived policies proving demoralising and harmful to our country, while facilitating India in promoting its schemes and strengthening its aims against Pakistan.

The "water bomb" is a reality that Pakistan's rulers must not overlook in the artificial scenario created by the so-called "confidence building measures."