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    India and the Indus Water Treaty

    Written by: Dr. Ijaz Hussain
    Posted on: November 24, 2012 | | 中文

    Pakistani President Mohammad Ayub Khan and Indian Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru sign the Indus Water Treaty, September 16, 1960

    Water is a hot issue in the relations between Pakistan and India today. However, this is not new. It was so soon after Pakistan’s independence when, on 1st April 1948, India stopped the flow of water to Pakistani canals, with devastating effects not only on agriculture but also on the supply of drinking water to cities like Lahore. Exploiting Pakistan’s utter desperation to get the water supplies restored, India forced Pakistan to sign the Delhi Agreement But Pakistan had to pay the price by renouncing all rights to these waters and pledging to tap alternative sources for its needs. Then followed a series of bilateral negotiations to find a permanent solution to the issue, but due to Indian obduracy they remained inconclusive. Subsequently, the World Bank mediated the dispute which resulted in the conclusion of the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. It allocated the Eastern Rivers (Sutlej, Ravi and Beas) to India and the Western Rivers (Chenab, Jhelum and Indus) to Pakistan, while at the same time allowing India the right to make “limited use” of their waters and operate run-of-the-river hydropower plants. The Treaty worked more or less satisfactorily over the years, even during the 1965 and 1971 wars. However, since its rise as an economic power, India has started to flex its muscle and begun abusing the Treaty by planning huge dam-like structures on the Western Rivers. It has already built one on the Chenab River called the Baglihar dam and is currently building another one on the Jhelum River called the Kishanganga dam

     

    LOCATION OF PROJECTS ON RIVER INDUS

    This is, however, not the end of the story of India’s dam building activity on the Western Rivers.  It is now planning more than a hundred dams under the guise of hydropower projects. Pakistan believes them to be in violation of the terms of the Treaty as they are not run-of-the-river projects. Pakistan’s concern about the issue is evident from the fact that according to the Strategic Foresight Group, an Indian think tank, every proposal that Pakistan has made since 1999 in the two-track diplomacy has focused on water as a matter of pivotal concern to that country. The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that in March 2009, a group of more than 20 different UN bodies warned that given the rising tension over the water issue between Pakistan and India, the world could be perilously close to its first water war. India, of course, rejects Pakistan’s claim by arguing that it is building hydropower projects strictly in accordance with the terms of the Treaty. It contends that Pakistan’s objections are mostly political in nature and have no technical or engineering relevance. It is not prepared to engage Pakistan in order to find an amicable solution to the issue and rejects predictions of war as being alarmist.  

    LOCATION OF COMMISSIONED PROJECTS ON RIVER JHELUM

    The question arises: why is India bent upon building these dams? Is it doing so merely to generate electricity or is there some hidden agenda behind it as well? From all the available evidence, it is clear that India is trying to acquire capability to control the waters of the Western Rivers in order to release them to inundate Pakistani territory or withhold them to render it dry at an opportune moment. Independent and neutral observers tend to agree with Pakistan’s assessment. For example, this is what John Brisco, Professor of Environmental Engineering at the Harvard University, who has worked on the issue for quite some time, has to say in the matter:            

    LOCATION OF PROJECTS ON RIVER INDUS

    “[There] is a veritable caravan of Indian projects-Kishanganga, Sawalkot, Pakuldul, Bursar, Dal Huste, Gypsa. The cumulative live storage would be large, giving India an unquestioned capacity to have major impact on the timing of flows into Pakistan… [Calculations suggest] that once it has constructed all of the hydropower plants on the Chenab, India will have ability to effect major damage on Pakistan.”

    Incidentally, if India is trying to control the flow of the Western Rivers, its attitude has been no different towards its other South Asian neighbours. It has succeeded in imposing unfair water treaties like the Mahakali and Tanakpur Agreements on Nepal and the Ganges Agreement of 1996 on Bangladesh. Additionally, it has plans to interlink Brahmaputra, Ganges and Meghna rivers by transferring water from surplus to deficient rivers which would hit Bangladesh hard as it would deprive the latter of water which it has historically used. In this backdrop, the Indian intentions vis-a-vis Pakistan through vast dam-building plans become clear. It is not only to steal waters which rightfully belong to Pakistan but also to use them as a weapon to reduce Pakistan to the status of Nepal or Bangladesh. India is doing so because it is a hegemonistic power which is bent upon imposing its version of the Monroe doctrine on South Asia. It is making a strategic use of water to subdue Pakistan which is the last line of resistance against India’s quest for supremacy in South Asia.

    All maps have been provided by the author.


    As the new year begins, let us also start anew. I’m delighted to extend, on behalf of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and in my own name, new year’s greeting and sincere wishes to YOULIN magazine’s staff and readers.

    Only in hard times can courage and perseverance be manifested. Only with courage can we live to the fullest. 2020 was an extraordinary year. Confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic, China and Pakistan supported each other and took on the challenge in solidarity. The ironclad China-Pakistan friendship grew stronger as time went by. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor projects advanced steadily in difficult times, become a standard-bearer project of the Belt and Road Initiative in balancing pandemic prevention and project achievement. The handling capacity of the Gwadar Port has continued to rise and Afghanistan transit trade through the port has officially been launched. The Karakoram Highway Phase II upgrade project is fully open to traffic. The Lahore Orange Line project has been put into operation. The construction of Matiari-Lahore HVDC project was fully completed. A batch of green and clean energy projects, such as the Kohala and Azad Pattan hydropower plants have been substantially promoted. Development agreement for the Rashakai SEZ has been signed. The China-Pakistan Community of Shared Future has become closer and closer.

    Reviewing the past and looking to the future, we are confident to write a brilliant new chapter. The year 2021 is the 100th birthday of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan. The 100-year journey of CPC surges forward with great momentum and China-Pakistan relationship has flourished in the past 70 years. Standing at a new historic point, China is willing to work together with Pakistan to further implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, connect the CPEC cooperation with the vision of the “Naya Pakistan”, promote the long-term development of the China-Pakistan All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership with love, dedication and commitment. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan said, “We are going through fire. The sunshine has yet to come.” Yes, Pakistan’s best days are ahead, China will stand with Pakistan firmly all the way.

    YOULIN magazine is dedicated to promoting cultural exchanges between China and Pakistan and is a window for Pakistani friends to learn about China, especially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It is hoped that with the joint efforts of China and Pakistan, YOULIN can listen more to the voices of readers in China and Pakistan, better play its role as a bridge to promote more effectively people-to-people bond.

    Last but not least, I would like to wish all the staff and readers of YOULIN a warm and prosper year in 2021.

    Nong Rong Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
    The People’s Republic of China to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
    January 2021