A desperate Solution.

I want to address Zulfikar Ali Butt who writes from London (The Nation Mar 31) that Ayub Khan sold three rivers to India. Lets look at the facts. India unilaterally stopped the water flow of three eastern rivers – Ravi, Sutlej and Beas. All protests by Pakistan and scores of delegations had no effect, just like the present efforts on Baglihar dam have prove futile. The vast command area of these rivers in southern Punjab and upper Sindh was at grave risk. The choice was either go to war or involve the international community. Could Pakistan have taken on India in the early fifties? India probably wanted that. An international agreement would have taken months, if not years.In this desperate situation, Pakistan had to buy water perforce in the interim period to save its millions of farmers from starving and to protect a major portion of its bread basket from going empty. It took the World Bank two years to broker the Indus Water Treaty which made it possible to build Mangla and Tarbela dams to replace the lost waters of the eastern rivers, saving Pakistan from a disaster of untold magnitude. I would like Mr Butt to tell me what he would have done in place of Ayub Khan. -KHURSHID ANWER, Lahore Cantt., via e-mail, April 2. Nation .... dated April 14th,2007