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Pakistan’s newly elected government is facing what could be its biggest challenge as an unprecedented water shortage threatens to become a major crisis.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was sworn-in as the country’s 22nd premier on Aug. 18, is urging some 9 million overseas Pakistanis to “donate generously” for the construction of dams to cope with the country’s growing water requirements. But experts say the move is not viable.
Full-page newspaper advertisements and special broadcasts aired on local television stations are exhorting mainly overseas Pakistanis to contribute for the construction of dams in the next five years, including the long-stalled Diamer-Bhasha Dam, construction of which is in the preliminary stages on the Indus River in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region near the border with China.
A Pakistani official's critical comments about projects funded by China to the tune of billions of dollars rattled investors and sparked worries on Monday of a souring in ties, a day after Beijing's top government diplomat concluded a visit.Abdul Razak Dawood, the Pakistani cabinet member for commerce, industry and investment, suggested that all projects in the $57-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor programme could be eligible for suspension in a review to be conducted this week under the orders of new Prime Minister Imran Khan."I think we should put everything on hold for a year, so we can get our act together," Dawood told the Financial Times in an interview. "Perhaps we can stretch CPEC out over another five years or so."Pakistan’s new president Arif Alvi sworn inHe added that he thought China had been granted too-favourable terms in many projects by the former government of Nawaz Sharif."Chinese companies received tax breaks, many breaks and have an undue advantage in Pakistan; this is one of the things we're looking at because it's not fair that Pakistan companies should be disadvantaged," Dawood said.Pakistani markets fell in early trading on Monday, with the benchmark KSE 100 index down 477.38 just after midday at 40,374 points, before recovering to close at 40,684, still down 0.4 percent.Pakistan, China renew commitment on economic corridorDawood's comments were "mind-boggling" and rare public criticism of China, said Mohammad Zubair, privatization minister in the previous government."This is probably the harshest statement about the Chinese in the last 50 years or so," Zubair told Reuters. "Even if there are issues with the Chinese, those issues could be dealt with in private rather than being made public."Later on Monday, Dawood told domestic broadcaster Geo TV that his statements had been misconstrued and he would clarify them later.Pakistan embassy holds reception on Defense DayThe critical comments were published just after the Chinese government's top diplomat, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, visited Pakistan and the two sides reaffirmed the mutual benefits of the Beijing-funded projects.While Khan, a former cricket star, has made no secret he plans to review all government projects and expenditure, the finance ministry last month said Pakistan was "fully committed to undertake and complete CPEC projects in their totality".Pakistan is struggling to avert a foreign currency crisis that could force it to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund. Its foreign currency reserves have dwindled to $9.9 billion last month from around $16 billion in mid-2017.The rupee has been devalued four times since late last year, falling by more than 20 percent.In June, Beijing gave Pakistan $1 billion in loans to boost foreign reserves ahead of the July 25 election. 
Pakistan official's criticism of China's 'Silk Road' projects raises worries
Khan, who took the reins of the South Asian state in July, appealed last week in a televised message to Pakistanis working in the United States, Europe and the Middle East to wage a “dam Jihad” by donating at least $1,000 each to a Dam Fund set up by the country’s Chief Justice, Mian Saqib Nisar.
Warning that the country might face a complete drought by 2025 if new dams are not built, Khan said “we have 30 days’ water storage, whereas country like Egypt, which once faced a more acute water shortage, has a storage capacity of 1,000 days”.
Khan’s appeal has so far received a warm response not only from abroad but within the country, accumulating over 3 billion Pakistani rupees (nearly $30 million) in a week-long period.
Chinese Foreign Minister on Sunday vowed to further strengthen ties with Pakistan as analysts claimed the real aim of the visit was to seek assurances from new Pakistani government that its multibillion-dollar project would continue.State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived on a three-day visit to Pakistan on Friday, two days after U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo visited Islamabad.China will continue to prioritize Pakistan in its foreign policy and neighborhood diplomacy, Wang said during his meeting with Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan in capital Islamabad.During their meeting, the Pakistani premier reassured the Chinese government’s top diplomat that the multibillion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would continue to be the government's top priorities.Analysts believe the aim of the three-day long visit of top Chinese diplomats was to engage with the new government and learn its position on the $64 billion CPEC project, which is a key part in Beijing’s ambitious One Road-One Belt project."The Chinese foreign minister’s visit is very important since he wants to know the vision of the new government and reassure his country's full support to Pakistan," according to Mushahid Hussain, an Islamabad-based political analyst.The new government in Pakistan also gave assurances that the change in government would not affect ties with China, Hussain added- China rejects CPEC criticismWang also rejected criticism on the CPEC and said the project had not increased Pakistani debt."To our knowledge, 47 percent of the current debt comes from the international financial institution; when it comes to 22 CPEC projects, 18 of them are financed by direct Chinese investment and only four received concessional loans," Wang said during a joint news conference with his Pakistani counterpart.The CPEC has nothing to do with the debt burden of Pakistan but it helped the country and increased its economic growth by 1-2 percent and when these projects entered into operation it will provide huge financial benefits to the Pakistan economy, he addedWang was referring to the U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s statement in July who warned that any potential International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout for Pakistan should not provide funds to pay off Chinese lenders.CPEC, a mega project, signed in 2015, during the jailed former premier Nawaz Sharif government, aims to connect China's strategically important northwestern Xinxiang province to Pakistan’s strategic Gwadar port through a network of roads, railways, and pipelines to transport cargo, oil, and gas.The economic corridor will not only provide China cheaper access to Africa and the Middle East but will also earn Pakistan billions of dollars for providing transit facilities to the world’s second-largest economy.- Expected bailout packageDuring his three-day stay in Islamabad, the Chinese foreign minister did not announce any urgent loan for Pakistan to bring the country out from the current account crises. However, he signaled that China is ready to help Pakistan."China is a country that values and cherishes its friendship with Pakistan. When China was in difficulty, Pakistan extended its support to it and now China wants to help Pakistan " Wang said.Pakistan is currently passing a worsening balance of payment crises. According to analysts, these crises may push the country to seek a fresh bailout from the IMF. However, Finance Minister Asad Umar told the Senate last week that IMF is not a final option but that they have several other options as well and would decide on the issue by the end of this month.Analysts believe the U.S. could create hurdles for Pakistan if the country approached the IMF amid its current deteriorated relationship between the two allies in the war against terrorism.China’s role is very important in the current situation because the U.S. would build pressure on the IMF to attach serious restrictions with its loans if Pakistan goes in that direction and that will create more difficult situation for the new government, Sarmad Salik, Islamabad-based political analyst told Anadolu AgencyIt is not possible for China to resolve all financial problems of Pakistan; however, China's immediate help can stabilize Islamabad during its current crises, Salik added.During his stay in Islamabad, Chinese foreign minister also met Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa and Speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser.
Chinese minister vows to back Pakistan's economy
Pakistan’s powerful army on Monday donated one billion rupees (over $8 million) – the highest single contribution so far.
But the so-called euphoria doesn’t impress economists and water experts, who view the move as “unviable”.
“Construction of big dams is a very serious matter. They cannot be built through alms and donations,” Dr. Kaiser Bengali, the country’s leading economist, told Anadolu Agency.
The actual estimated cost of the project, conceived in 2006, was $12.6 billion which, according to experts, currently stands somewhere around $16 billion.
Pakistan's newly elected President Arif Alvi has been sworn in as the 13th President of the country on Sunday.Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar administered the oath at the President House in the capital Islamabad.The ceremony was attended by outgoing President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Imran Khan, chiefs of army, navy and air force, provincial governors, chief ministers and other dignitaries.Alvi, a close confidant of Prime Minister Imran Khan, had defeated main opposition candidate Maulana Fazl ur Rehman, and Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan of center-left Pakistan People’s Party in a one-sided contest on Sep 4.He is among the founding members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI).Alvi, a dentist by profession, was born in 1949 in the southeastern port city Karachi, two years after his family migrated to Pakistan following the end of British colonial rule.In 2013, Alvi won the first National Assembly seat from Karachi, which he retained in the recent July 25 general election.However, the prime minister nominated him as his party’s candidate for the office of the president.
Pakistan’s new president Arif Alvi sworn in
“Governments are not run like that. How much will we be able to accumulate? [Maybe] 10 billion or 20 billion rupees, whereas it requires 1,600 billion. There are several ways of funding such huge projects. [The government] just needs to be innovative,” said Bengali, author of the book ‘The Politics of Managing Water’.
Shahab Osto, a Karachi-based water expert, shared a similar view.
“Building dams is such a costly business. Khan may have an optimistic approach mainly because of his popularity among overseas Pakistanis. But such huge and costly projects cannot be built simply on the basis of popularity and optimism,” Osto told Anadolu Agency.
The new government in Islamabad on Saturday assured Beijing that the multi-billion dollars economic corridor project will remain a priority for the country."China-Pakistan Economic Corridor [CPEC] is vital for socio-economic development of Pakistan and it will prove to be a game changer to the region," Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, during a joint news conference with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Islamabad.Wang arrived on a three-day official visit to Pakistan on Friday, two days after U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo visited Islamabad.Qureshi said the two sides have decided to initiate a strategic dialogue and further enhance bilateral economic relations.Chinese govt's top diplomat says Beijing not saddling Pakistan with debtWang, for his part, said China would support Pakistan’s socioeconomic progress and development.The Chinese foreign minister also appreciated Pakistan’s sacrifices in war on terror.“We want peace in the world and Pakistan has rendered huge sacrifices to bring peace in the region and the world should accept and respect it,” Wang said.Earlier, Qureshi and Wang held a meeting and later chaired delegation-level talks.Wang will meet Prime Minister Imran Khan, Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa and other high officials during his stay in Islamabad.
Pakistan, China renew commitment on economic corridor
According to statistics from the Ministry of Water and Power, Pakistan receives 145 million acre-feet of water every year, but only 14 million acre-feet is preserved. The country wastes 25 billion rupees (around $200 million) worth of water every year.
Pakistan gets most of its water from three western rivers – the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab – under a 1960 water treaty with longtime rival India brokered by the World Bank.
The waters of the eastern rivers the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi have been allocated to India under the agreement.
Pakistani nation on Thursday marked the “Defense and Martyrs Day” to pay tributes to the soldiers who lost their lives for the defense of the country, local media reported.The day dawned with 31-gun salute in the country’s capital city Islamabad and 21-gun salute in the all four provincial capital cities of Pakistan, according to the state-run Radio Pakistan.Video: Pakistan celebrates Defence DayPakistan marks Sept. 6 every year to remember the sacrifices of armed forces for the defense of the country during 1965 war with India.The intense fighting between the two countries took place between August and September, with both sides claiming victory after it ended on Sept. 22 with a UN-sponsored ceasefire.Special prayers and recitation of holy Quran were also being held in mosques across the country for the martyrs, who sacrificed their lives in the war against terrorism.Pakistan's newly-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan paid tributes to the martyrs.In a statement, Khan said Pakistan believes in peaceful coexistence and wants to promote mutual cooperation with all its neighbors and the entire world on equal basis.“This year the Defence Day is quite unique because the Armed Forces of Pakistan, keeping in view their magnificent traditions, have achieved standout achievements in the war against terrorism which provided further stability and continuity to the motherland,” Khan said.The main event was held at military headquarters Rawalpindi, which was attended by the prime minister, Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, diplomats, officials and relatives of martyrs.Pompeo's Pakistan visit reeks of old rhetoric: analystsPakistan to help US bring Taliban to negotiating table
Pakistan marks ‘Defense and Martyrs day’
Conservation
Bengali suggested that the government should allocate 20 to 25 percent of the total expenditure as seed money and hand over the project to a company or group of companies through international bidding.
“The best way is to bid the project on a BOOT (build-own-operate-transfer) basis, making the successful bidder responsible for arranging the remaining amount. The project may be given to that company against revenue of power and water generation for the next 30 years,” said Bengali.
In this way, he added, the government would not have to spend even a single penny on maintenance of the dam for the next 30 years.
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday in a renewed attempt to "reset bilateral relations", which have plummeted in recent years.Pompeo held meetings with Prime Minister Imran Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and army chief Gen. Qamar Bajwa, merely days after Washington blocked $300 million in military aid to Islamabad.Though Pompeo dubbed his visit as an effort to "reset relationship" between the two allies on the war against terrorism, analysts believe that his key agenda was to engage Pakistan's civilian and military leadership to help Washington in war-torn Afghanistan.They, however, do not expect a major breakthrough, considering U.S. President Donald Trump's recent actions against Pakistan, including aid cuts and Washington’s negative role in bringing Islamabad on the “gray list” of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international money-laundering watchdog.“I doubt Pompeo’s visit will yield any results because Pakistan cannot do what Washington wants it to do,” Hamid Mir, an Islamabad-based political analyst, and an expert on Afghan affairs told Anadolu Agency.Pakistan reassured the U.S. on Wednesday that it would use its influence to bring Taliban to the negotiating table in Afghanistan.Following talks with Pompeo, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said: “The U.S. wants Pakistan to play its role for negotiations and reconciliation in Afghanistan. This is what our policy and desire is. We want peace and stability in Afghanistan, and I have fully assured them in this regard.”The outcome of the meeting signal toward a thawing of frosty ties between the two allies on the war on terror.US expects India to buy energy products, aircraft to fix trade gap'Taliban influence a myth'Contesting the foreign minister's opinion, Mir, who was the last journalist to interview slain Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in 2001 in Afghanistan, said both sides were pursuing a "confused policy" in Afghanistan.“Pakistan must tell the truth that it no longer has any influence over Afghan Taliban. They no longer trust Islamabad. Similarly, the U.S on the one hand demands strict action against Taliban, while on the other, it also wants Islamabad to use its influence over them,” Mir said.He claimed that Islamabad gradually lost its influence over Taliban due to the death of several key leaders in custody of Pakistan's security agencies and other secret military operations against them on pressure from U.S.“This (influence) is just a myth. And Pakistan does not deny that," he said, adding that Taliban would come to the negotiating table on their own terms.“They did not listen to Saudi Arabia [for talks], why would they listen to Pakistan,” he said, referring to a recently held Riyadh-sponsored Ulema conference, which called upon the Taliban to lay arms and negotiate with Kabul for reconciliation. The call, however, was rejected by the Taliban.Professor Ijaz Khan, another Islamabad-based political analyst, agrees with Mir.“The U.S. has already sent a message to Pakistan before the secretary of state’s visit by cutting military aid. This simply means, he (Pompeo) is here not to mend ties but to bully Pakistan,” he told Anadolu Agency.“I don’t think Pakistan’s offer of using its influence over Taliban is something new. Pakistan will continue in that area as it had in the past. Additionally, Pakistan’s influence over Taliban is not unlimited," Khan added. Pakistan to help US bring Taliban to negotiating tableNew beginningMazhar Abbas, a Karachi-based political commentator, appears to be optimistic about Pompeo’s visit -- the first from any top U.S. official following elections and formation of a new government in Pakistan.“This is true that there will be no immediate breakthrough in the ongoing diplomatic deadlock but this will be equally wrong if we think Pompeo’s visit was a mere formality," he told Anadolu Agency.“It can be a new beginning because the U.S. itself has recognized that its arm-twisting tactics have not worked out," he added.In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump's new policy for South Asia accused Pakistan of patronizing militants, a charge Islamabad denies.“Trump administration has shown flexibility in its initial stance towards Pakistan because it has failed to achieve its targets in Afghanistan without Islamabad’s cooperation,” Mushahid Hussain Syed, a senator and security analyst, observed.Islamabad had already agreed to initiate fresh efforts to bring Taliban back to negotiation following an ice-breaking visit of Pakistan's army chief to Kabul earlier this year. But a wave of Taliban attacks across Afghanistan ruined the development.Pakistan had brokered a landmark round of direct talks between the fragile Afghan government, and the Taliban in Islamabad in July 2015, but the process broke down after the Taliban announced the death of their longtime leader Mullah Omer, triggering a bitter power struggle within the militant group.Chances for resumption of the stalled process deteriorated further following death of Mullah Omer’s successor, Mullah Mansur in a U.S. drone strike last year in southwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border.Several attempts aimed at resuming the halted process have been made since July 2015 by a four-nation group comprising of Pakistan, Afghanistan, U.S. and China but they have all failed one after another.
Pompeo's Pakistan visit reeks of old rhetoric: analysts
However, he said he prefers conservation as a far better option than the construction of dams to cope with water requirements.
“I want to say on record that there is no shortage of water in Pakistan. The only issue is poor water management and distribution,” Bengali said.
“Almost 90 percent of our water is used for agriculture purposes, of which 40 percent is wasted because of primitive ways of cultivation. If modern-day technology and tools are used, we can save this 40 percent of water”.
Osto agreed with Bengali, saying instead of building huge dams, which, according to him, are environmentally hazardous, water conservation is a much better and simpler idea.
“The politics of big dams is complicated, rather a failure in Pakistan,” Osto pointed out, referring to a chronic confrontation over water-sharing between different provinces.
“Therefore, the government should not waste its energies and money on the construction of big dams but focus on small dams and conservation projects.”
However, he disagreed with Bengali’s contention about water abundance in the country.
“There is a water dearth in Pakistan which is projected to become more severe in the next five to ten years. But yes, if we plan and carry out an effective conservation policy, a huge quantity of water can be conserved.”