Afia Ambreen
Apart from spraying bullets from across the Line of Control and financing terrorism, hard line Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is using every possible tactics to exert pressure on Pakistan. In his latest statement, Modi, while addressing the farmers once again repeated the threat of stopping Pakistan’s share of waters. Recently, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, during a Security Council debate on water, had cited, “Indus Water Treaty” signed by India and Pakistan as well as other similar agreements, as instruments promoting stability and peace. He also said that shared water resources often generated cooperation. He hoped that India and Pakistan would resolve their water issue bilaterally. On the other hand, according to experts, it is practically not possible for India to stop the waters and revoke “Indus Water Treaty” unilaterally. The concerns that India could use water as a weapon to damage our agriculture and economy are not uncalled for, as they are already pursuing a systematic plan to manipulate water of the rivers flowing into Pakistan. It has already built several dams and is building more to regain control of western rivers, which is a clear violation of the “Indus Water Treaty”.
The India-Pakistan water dispute started immediately after India gained independence from the British Raj in 1947, and the subcontinent was partitioned to form the two countries. The dispute is quite serious, not just because it concerns water but also because of the ongoing political rivalry. The “Indus Water Treaty”, which was signed in 1960, has remained intact for more than 50 years, even during era of unrest. Under the Treaty, India gained control over the Sutlej, Ravi, and Beas rivers, while Pakistan received control over Chenab, Indus, and Jhelum rivers. Experts believe that Pakistan’s water scarcity is directly linked with the stoppage of waters in India. The period between 2005 and 2015 was declared the decade of water cooperation by the UN and concepts of transboundary water collaboration, shared waters and shared responsibilities were initialed. Co-riparian States were asked to use this, so that natural resources could be used for the common good and for development, and not for conflicts and wars. Pakistan and India are among 145 countries which share common international basins. Decrease in water quality, climate change, migration, population influx and several other factors have influenced both the riparian States to develop water cooperation mechanisms to meet their challenges.
India is currently constructing both the projects along with mega storages of water on Pakistan rivers with the designs which are completely breaching the provisions of the “Indus Water Treaty”. Pakistan had raised three objections on Kishanganga project’s design saying that the poundage of the project is 7.5 million cubic meter which is excessive and it should be one million cubic meter. Pakistan also wants India to raise intake by up to 4 meters and also raise spillways up to 9 meters high. And on the issue of Ratle Hydropower plant, Islamabad raised four objections. Pakistan wants India to maintain free board at 1 meter whereas India wants to keep it at 2 meters. In addition India wants to keep the poundage of 24 million cubic meters but Pakistan wants the poundage should of 8 million cubic meters. Pakistan also wants that the intake of the project should be raised by up to 8.8 meters and it spillways should be raised by up to 20 meters. India is also constructing the Rattle Hydropower Project on Chenab river and If it manages to construct the project under its existing objectionable design, the water flow of Chenab river at Head Marala will reduce by 40 percent which will be very detrimental to the irrigation in central Punjab of Pakistan. This dam will be three times larger than the Baglihar hydropower dam. India has already carved out the plan to generate 32,000MW of electricity on Pakistan’s rivers and will be having the capacity to regulate the water flows that are destined to reach Pakistan. On Neelum River that joins the Jehlum River in Pakistan; India has already completed Uri-1, Uri-II hydropower project and is also close to complete Kishenganga hydropower project. So much so, it has also built two hydropower projects on Indus River that include Nimmo Bazgo and Chattak hydropower project.
To conclude, intentions of India have never been favorable for Pakistan and Indians always tried to exploit Pakistan’s vulnerabilities and tried to destruct its economy by various instruments and the water dispute was also a part of it. The country is rapidly moving towards its target of making Pakistan totally barren by building dams on three major rivers Chenab, Jhelum and Indus flowing into Pakistan from the Indian side of the border. These dams are being built in shrewd violation of provisions in “Indus Water Treaty” signed between the two countries to ensure equitable distribution of water resources. India is manipulating Indus Water Treaty (IWT) but Pakistan must not fall into the Indian trap by following a two-pronged strategy. First, to pursue this case with full vigor, second, to utilize this breathing space to start building irrigation-cum-generation projects on the Indus river.
