Short answer yes.
In all honesty, I agree while the "Ummah" has been added to create fervor and constant diversion of domestic issues, the skyrocketing population and while Pakistan has benefited from the Green Revolution there hasn't been a concerted push for water management, or even keeping up with a minimum advance in technology. A Simply buried hose with pinholes in it underneath or besides agriculture seeds can reduce the necessity of irrigation water by 80-95%.
But if you looking for support in creating desalination plants?
I'm not so sure. Desalination plants serve 1 purposes: supplying a
supplemental water source to a concentrated area.
Desalination plants are not cheap, and If Pakistan continues to look towards gas/ furnace oil power plants not only the costs of electricity but water will be dependent on a highly volatile commodity. Electricity usage is the single highest costs of a desalination plant, depending on type of process used, it can run up to 70%.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/533446/desalination-out-of-desperation/ <--MIT Review, 2014.
Water from a river or aquifer may cost 10-30 cents, while desalinized water comes out to even 20x.
Countries like Gulf Arab States, Australia, China can afford desalination. But it's because they have surplus energy. The Gulf States back in (2012?) had 60% of all desalination capacity, if memory serves correct. While countries like France & Israel, is able to supply 40% of it's water supply, 3.2million people confined along the coaster Tel Aviv metropolitan area, are blessed with a highly centralized population centers.
Pakistan's intermittent electricity supply has the potential to ruin the entire supply of desalinized water with a blackout. And it's population in Punjab and KPK will need extensive pipelines and additional tax on the electricity supply.
Desalination should only be seen as a stop gap, a temporary attempt to fix the greater problem of water mismanagement & waste treatment. In other circumstances humans have to accept that some places are not suitable for settlements. Thar is a ridiculous place to set up, I honestly feel there was discrimination on the behalf of Pakistan in providing land to "cultivate".
If you want greater detail:
http://www.ilf.com/fileadmin/user_u...vance_water_treatment_economics_financing.pdf <--- Most comprehensive paper
https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/ar...-desalination-isnt-the-solution-to-water-woes
http://pacinst.org/ <---Renown Think Tank focusing on water resources
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-dont-we-get-our-drinking-water-from-the-ocean/
http://www.twdb.texas.gov/innovativewater/desal/faq.asp <--- FAQ on Desalination Project in Texas
http://electrical-engineering-porta...bution-architecture-in-water-treatment-plants <-- Power Distribution architecture
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/533446/desalination-out-of-desperation/ <--MIT Tech Review