Pakistan and India have already declared their failure in resolving the issues pertaining to the designs of Kishangana and Ratle hydropower projects at Permanent Commission of Indus Waters (PCIW). Therefore, Pakistan’s foreign office had sent a statement of points of difference to India according to which India has been asked to jointly appoint the neutral expert over the designs of the 330 MW Kishanganga Hydro power and 850 MW Ratle hydropower project with faulty designs. Pakistan had also warned India that Islamabad is moving the Neutral Experts over differences on the designs of the Kishanganga and Ratle hydropower projects. However, India has not responded to the letter; hence Pakistan has decided to take up the matter with the World Bank with a view to safeguarding water interests. Pakistan has hired the consortium of two US-based law firms that include ‘Three Crowns’ and ‘Walliams & Connelly.
Pakistan had earlier taken the India to international court of justice on 450 MW Baglihar hydropower project where India got success because Pakistan did not present case properly. Islamabad had taken New Dehli to The Hague Court on interpretation of Kishanganga hydropower project. The Hague Court in the final order had not only asked India to increase the environmental water flow downstream from the dam at all times to 9 cubic meters per second (Cumecs) from the Indian government proposal of 4.25 cumecs (an increase of 112%). The court had also rejected Indian government plea to reconsider or re-interpret the Permanent Court of Arbitration order of February 2013. The permanent court also said that the 330 MW Kishanganga Hydro Electric Power Project (KHEP) under construction and all other subsequent projects cannot draw down the water level in projects below the dead storage level.
India is currently constructing both the projects along with mega storages of water on Pakistan rivers with the designs, which completely breach the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty. Pakistan had raised the three objections on Kishanganga project’s design saying that the pondage of the project is 7.5 million cubic metre, which is excessive and it should be one million cubic metre. Pakistan also wants India to raise intake by up to 4 metres and also raise spillways up to 9 metres high. On the issue of Ralte Hydropower plant, Islamabad raised four objections. Pakistan wanted India to maintain free board at 1 metre whereas India wants to keep it at 2 metres; India wants to keep the pondage of 24 million cubic meters but Pakistan wants the pondage should of 8 million cubic meters.
India is constructing the Ratle Hydropower Project on Chenab River and if it constructs the project under its existing objectionable design, the water flow of Chenab River at Head Marala will reduce by 40 percent, which will be detrimental to the irrigation in central Punjab of Pakistan. This dam will be three times larger than the Baglihar hydropower dam. India has a 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.
So far India has built Baglihar of 450MW, and now it has started new project named Ratle hydropower project. 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. In March 2015 in a seminar organised by the Institution of Engineers Pakistan to mark the World Water Day, Indus Water Commission (IWC) Chairman Mirza Asif Baig had said International Court of Arbitration’s ruling on Baglihar Dam was wrong and controversial, as it was against the provisions of Indus Water Treaty. He added: “The judgment in Baglihar (dam) case was bad, as it was given by bad judges who had controversial repute.” The International Court of Arbitration’s (ICA) had given a verdict in favour of India after months of legal wrangling between Islamabad and New Delhi.
Pakistan is fast becoming a water scarce country, as country’s per capita water availability is presently estimated at 950 cubic metres, quite a dip from 5,500 cubic metres in 1951. If we continue business as usual, how will we meet the water needs of a growing population?” he asked, and warned, “We can lose the country without entering into a war with India if we did not build dams. Indus basin irrigates about 14 million hectares of land in Pakistan – the largest irrigated area in the world – for which a huge amount of water is needed. With only two existing major reservoirs in the Indus basin i.e. Mangla and Tarbela, the storage capacity of Pakistan is only about 30 days while most of the developed countries have 1-2 years water storage capability. The problem is that India is constructing dams and hydropower projects in violation of IWT.
This is being done under well thought-out strategy to render Pakistan’s link-canal system redundant, destroy agriculture of Pakistan, which is its mainstay, and turn Pakistan into a desert. Using its clout in Afghanistan, India had succeeded in convincing the Karzai regime to build a dam on River Kabul and set up Kama 2 Hydroelectric Project using 0.5MAF of Pakistan water. It had offered technical assistance for the proposed project, which would have serious repercussions on the water flow in River Indus. One does not have to be an agricultural scientist to know that water is indispensable to agriculture. It is a critical input into agriculture of a country especially when it is situated in an arid or semi-arid zone. Pakistan Indus Water Commission and the government should put in their best efforts to safeguard Pakistan’s water interest, and should not leave any loopholes while preparing the case, as it is a matter of life death for Pakistan.