Over the decades, the understanding of the environmental impacts of mega dam projects have grown, and Pakistan Economy Watch has demanded a national debate on the KBD issue.

[8] The issue of Kalabagh started to become politicized after the execution of the former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a highly popular leader from the downstream province of Sindh.

Due to certain violations of the Indus Accord by the Punjab province, reservations in Sindh grew against the project, whose population and political leaders now painted it as a conspiracy.

[citation needed] Despite the political roadblocks, the World Bank and foreign consultants continued their work on Kalabagh, over a period of ten years, up to 1986 when the project was finally put on hold.

[citation needed] Bashir A. Malik, former chief technical advisor to the United Nations and World Bank, said, "Sindh and Pakhtunkhwah would become drought areas in the years to come if Kalabagh Dam was not built.

"[15] At the same time, former KP Chief Minister Shamsul Mulk has stated that the "Kalabagh Dam would be helpful in erasing poverty from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as it would irrigate 800,000 acres of cultivable land that is located 100–150 feet above the level of River Indus.

"[18][19] Experts who supported the construction of the Kalabagh Dam at the 2012 "Save Water Save Pakistan" Forum included: Dr Salman Shah, former Finance Minister of Pakistan; Abdul Majeed Khan, TECH Society president; Shafqat Masood, former IRSA chairman; Qayyum Nizami, former Minister of State; Prof Abdul Qayyum Qureshi, former Vice-Chancellor of Islamia University, Bahawalpur; Dr Muhammad Sadiq, agricultural scientist; M Saeed Khan, former GM of Kalabagh Dam Project; Engr.

[21] Initially when the project was being conceived, engineering studies conducted by an independent Panel of Experts were also constituted by the World Bank, to progressively review the consultants work and to advise them.

[28] The former leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah showed objection to the site of Kalabagh Dam and said it is a threat to small provinces.

The Kazi Commission has also endorsed the IUCN estimates that the annual requirements for outflow of Indus water to sea for environmental sustenance to be 27 million acre feet (MAF).