Dam it?

Protests continue throughout ‘Azad’ Kashmir to oppose the Mangla Dam Extension project which officials estimate will displace over 50,000 people in Mirpur. Unofficial estimates put the figure up to 100,000. While the campaign against the extension was initiated soon after the announcement of the extension by the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) of Pakistan in February last year, it took the streets on Monday 30th of September when Pakistani military president arrived in Mirpur to inaugurate the extension work. The moment his helicopter appeared over Mirpur thousands of protestors came out despite the heavy presence of police and paramilitary forces. The situation went out of control when police and paramilitary personnel used teargas and batten charge to disperse an otherwise a peaceful procession. The protestors fought back with stones and burnt tyres on the roads. The clashes continued for over five hours turning Mirpur into a battleground. According to a text message received here on the day ‘Mirpur looked no different from Srinagar’. Why were these people protesting in such a manner?
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Background of the Dam

The world’s third largest embankment dam was built on River Jhelum (Kashmiri name Vitasata) in Mirpur district of Kashmir following the Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan in 1960. The five main rivers, which are the lifeline for the Indian and Pakistani agriculture and industry, originate from Kashmir. With the invasion of India and Pakistan and subsequent division of the Jammu and Kashmir State, the waters of Kashmir also became disputed between the two South Asian neighbours. The control of three out of five Rivers went to the Indian Government. Pakistan accused India of cutting the water supply and claimed that this has ruined Pakistan’s cultivated land, which poses serious threat of famine. To resolve the dispute World Bank mediated the Indus Water Treaty. The treaty confirmed the Indian authority over the three Rivers with the condition that the Indian Government will not cut the water supply to Pakistan. It was against this background that the then Pakistani Government of General Ayub Khan decided to build Mangla Dam. This was good news for Pakistan. However, for ‘Azad’ Kashmir in general and for Mirpur district in particular the news was like a bombshell.

Opposition to the construction of Mangla Dam
Initially the people of Mirpur who were yet not recovered from the traumas of division resulted from the Indian and Pakistani invasion in 1947 did not believe that Pakistani Government carry out any such plan, which will submerge the entire city of Mirpur and its surrounding villages. However, when it became clear that that is what exactly going to happen people rose up in revolt. They form the Anti Mangla Dam Movement. Such was the support for this movement that one Friday, Friday prayer could not take place due to the anti dam rally at Babyaam. Kashmiris of all political views, biraderies, professions, ages and gender opposed the dam and the local political leadership of ‘Azad’ Kashmir stood with the people. But the movement was crushed through military might, top leadership of ‘Azad’ Kashmir government and an attractive package of compensation, resettlement and development. The package promised, new colonies, appropriate compensation, relocation in new Mirpur and inside Pakistan, visas and voucher for England, cheap electricity and water, new roads and bridges and royalty to the AK government. The water was released in 1967. The whole of the Old Mirpur City, 65,000-acre surrounding land and 260 villages were drowned before the tearful eyes of thousands of Kashmiris in Mirpur.

The Extension Project
Now only thirty five years later the dam project is to be extended. A feasibility report prepared by the WAPDA claims that due to sedimentation the water storage capacity of the dam has declined from the original 5.88 Million Acre Feet (MAF) to 4.72. A 50 feet rise in the dam has been estimated to increase the storage capacity to 8.01 MAF. This will also generate 1,000-giga watt hour (GWh) additional electricity, which is 18% of the total out put. General Pervez Musharaaf has already promised the additional 3 million acre feet water to the landlords in Sindh province of Pakistan.

The Effects
WAPDA report estimates that in total 20,000-acre land, 8,500 houses will be submerged causing displacement of 45,000 persons. Anti Extension campaigners put the figure over 100,000. It is assumed that actual figure is somewhere in between. While WAPDA reports do not recognise the social impact of the upraising it is evident from the past experience that upraising will devastate the economy, environment and culture of Mirpur region.
Economically, a significant part of the New Mirpur City will be submerged which includes several shopping arcades, schools, post offices, and ‘corner shops’ in the town. Similarly many shopping arcades or bazaars, roads, schools, dispensaries, post offices etc. in the sub district of Dadyaal and other hamlets will be submerged.
Culturally, the mosques, playgrounds, graveyards etc. will be eroded causing severe social and mental health pressure on an already excluded and traumatised community which is living under the wars and threats of war for over half a century and has not yet fully recovered from the forced division of Kashmir in 1947 and the forced construction of the Mangla Dam in 1960s.
Environmentally, in addition to the damage which the resettlement will cause to the surrounding areas, the water of the extended reservoirs of the Dam will expand right under the hundreds of homes increasing the number of child and cattle drowning and pesticide including snake biting many fold. Although no official record is available common estimates show that at average 20 children are drowned in the reservoir every year in the Mirpur district.

Resettlement

President Musharaf while officially opening the extension work has promised an attractive package to the people of Mirpur and the AJK Government. According to this package the Pakistani Government will pay the cost of each effected house at ten percent above the market rate. The occupants have also been allowed rights on rubble of the demolished house and even dwellers of a single – room house will get a minimum amount of 300,000 rupees (£3000). A 5 Marla Plot will be given free of cost to compensate even those who have constructed houses on state land WAPDA paid compensation for in 1960s. Rupees 800 million annual royalty is promised to the AJK (Azad Jammu and Kashmir). Total Cost of the Project was initially estimated 53 billion rupees of which 33 billion are for the structural work and 20 billion for resettlement. The figures have recently been increased to 60 billion rupees however no break down is available whether the extra 7 billion are for the construction or resettlement. The source of funding for this mega project has not yet been established.

However, the people of Mirpur know that much was promised to them in 1967, but the reality us:

· The few colonies, which were eventually built, lacked most of the basic amenities such as water and electricity.
· Hundreds of families went to live inside Pakistan only to discover that they were deceived and cheated. The fertile land, promised to them was nowhere to be seen. Instead there was barren salivated land around them. Even for this they had to fight with local landlords and officialdom to gain property rights. Many have returned to Mirpur.
· Hundreds of families are waiting till this day for any compensation at all let alone the sufficient.
· The electricity tariff in ‘Azad’ Kashmir today is 4.25 Rupees a unit and in Pakistan 2.85 rupees a unit.
· Although Pakistani government charges Abiyaana; water charges from the poor peasants and farmers in Pakistan for the use of Mangla Waters, it has rejected the AK government’s demand for royalty on the absurd grounds that ‘Kashmir is not a province of Pakistan therefore is not entitled to the royalty. According to the present AK governments’ calculation Pakistan owes 87 billion rupees of royalty to the AK government.


Opposition to the Extension: ‘clean the dam, do not cleanse Kashmiris.

Widespread opposition to the dam extension expressed through the Anti Mangla Dam Extension Committee (AMDEC) is based primarily on the following grounds:

1. The rise in silt level is a result of WAPDA’s failure to clean the dam every year, which was part of the maintenance plan, and appropriate machinery was provided to carryout this task at the time of dam construction. WAPDA has not cleaned the dam even once over the past 37 years. Therefore, anti extension campaigners say

2. The rise in silt level is also a result of deforestation in AJK by the Pakistani authorities through their puppets in AJK. A land with 40% forests has become nearly barren due to this collaboration between the two who are once again collaborating to wipe out another large chunk of the Mirpur district and throw over 70,000 people out of their homes.


3. Even the Pakistani experts including the Director of the Metallurgical department have clearly and repeatedly stated that: only a meagre 150 gigawatt hour (GWh) electricity and given the recent history of floods virtually no increase in the storage capacity can be achieved.

4. Land is already scarce in Mirpur. Even if Pakistani Government delivers its promises of resettling displaced people in the nearby land, what will happen to the surplus population of the district in the near future?

5. While the dam is built on the Kashmiri land all the official Pakistani documents shows it in Pakistan.

6. Pakistan government must pay the entire amount due towards royalty (over 100 billion rupees) to AJK government and followed by a mutually agreed annual royalty.

However, these arguments and demands put forward by the AMDEC have fallen on deaf ears. Instead General Pervez Musharf decided to come Mirpur and force the extension project on the people of this so-called Azad Kashmir. Eleven people including the spokesperson of the campaign Mohammed Arif are still in prison. The protests are spreading out of ‘Azad’ Kashmir into Britain, Europe and USA where committees are being formed to make the world aware of the anti extension campaign and expose the suppressive practices of the Pakistani Government. The main concern amongst the Kashmiris in and outside of Kashmir is that the Pakistani authorities have brought all this about at a time when the world leaders have started branding the whole struggle for self-determination in Kashmir as terrorism. The question every Kashmiri asks today is that ‘is this merely an issue of water and power needs of Pakistan or Pakistani rulers have made some new deals on the Kashmir and this is just a camouflage?’ For if they need water and power why do not they build Kalabagh dam in Pakistan which has been shelved for over four decades? Regardless of the real motives behind the extension, the resistance against the project can easily be linked with the overall question of Kashmir and if prisoners are not released and extension is not stopped situation in the ‘Azad’ Kashmir will further deteriorate. Subsequently the true nature of the Pakistani presence in Kashmir and the puppet nature of the present government of AJK is going to lay bare before the world.