Pakistan And India-Water Disputes-News And Updates

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An interesting read from Pakistani Newspaper.

Pakistan's looming water crisis


Barring Karachi and Hyderabad, the last monsoon rains in the country were 30 per cent below the average amount. No doubt, the vagaries of nature complicate water management. However, the progressively declining availability of water in Pakistan and our inaction over the years should be of equal concern.

According to the Planning and Development Division, between 1997 and 2005, overall water availability decreased from 1,299 to 1,101m3 (cubic metres) per capita; another study puts that figure closer to 1000m3. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, Pakistan’s water availability places the country at the bottom of 26 Asian states; no wonder, then, that the country is increasingly being categorised as a ‘high stress’ country in terms of water.

Of the total surface area of the planet, nearly 71 per cent is comprised of water. Of this imposing segment, 97.5 per cent is saltwater, leaving 2.5 per cent as freshwater. Of this fraction, 70 per cent is frozen in icecaps while about 29 per cent lies in underground aquifers or as subsoil moisture. This leaves a minuscule one per cent freshwater for human consumption.

Awareness of that inadequacy is not all-encompassing. The majority of us live in reckless abandon, as if this diminishing commodity is actually in surfeit. According to one study, for example, the US uses 1.6 billion gallons of freshwater per day to flush its toilets — equivalent to 25 billion glasses of drinking water each day. This seems an indefensible disparity.

In terms of sector-wise contribution to Pakistan’s GDP, agriculture stands at 20.4 per cent, manufacturing at 26.6 per cent and the service sector at 53 per cent. Opposed to this, the ratio of water consumption is 96 per cent for agriculture, two per cent for the manufacturing sector and two per cent for domestic usage. As a world average, agriculture accounts for 69 per cent of all annual water withdrawals, industry for 23 per cent and domestic usage for eight per cent.

Yet the disparity in our matrix is not entirely surprising, given that Pakistan is overwhelmingly an arid country with an agriculture-dependent economy that employs over 45 per cent of the workforce. Unfortunately, intensive irrigation regimes and poor drainage practices have caused water-logging and soil salinity throughout Pakistan’s countryside.

As a result, vast expanses of rich agricultural land are too wet or salty to yield any meaningful harvest. Conversely, downstream Indus has shrunk to a canal, adversely affecting ecosystems.

For decades the world has enjoyed an abundance of high-quality freshwater that was inexpensive to obtain. With our communities facing increased shortages, we need to adopt modern ways of conserving our water assets. Through the media, we need to educate our populace about the impending water crisis and the significance of conservation, emphasising that reuse methodologies must be adopted by each city and town, and even at the level of individual units.

Similar awareness about the reuse of water has to be instilled in the industrial sector. In many other countries, the green movement has obligated the introduction of water-reuse practices in industries. We, too, must augment our resources through innovative rainwater harvesting, storm-water management, wastewater recycling and other efficient and sustainable systems.

Water use is subdivided into potable and non-potable irrigation, industry and groundwater recharge. Our society must be encouraged to use greywater for non-potable uses. Greywater is all wastewater except toilet washes, which is called blackwater.

The world’s climate patterns are changing, affecting every facet of society, ecosystems and economies. The wasteful use of water in agriculture deprives wetlands, streams, deltas, plants and animals of their share. As aquatic and terrestrial environments are damaged and ecosystems change; the strictest scrutiny of our principal water-user, the agriculture sector, must be exercised.

Pakistan uses flood irrigation, an archaic system, whereas other nations have progressed to alternate methods such as drip and sprinkler systems, to save on water. In the US and Europe, water-use for agriculture ranges between 40 and 50 per cent of their total resource.

Pakistan must formulate a decisive policy on automating its irrigation system. The task is gigantic, for it also requires re-educating farmers. It must therefore be done on an incremental basis, targeting selected land parcels for implementation and strict compliance.

The federal government needs to introduce ‘water credit’ available to those requiring financial assistance to equip their infrastructure. Grants are not the way to go, for these are at best limited in scope and tend to reach only the influential who usually squander it. Loans, on the other hand, show a perpetuating trend.

A scheme can also be employed, where water is supplied at a sliding rate commensurate with the incorporation of water-saving technologies: farmers and industries that use antiquated ways could pay higher water-charges than those conforming to the national policy. With such a focused approach, Pakistan would head towards aligning closely to world usage percentages. Even if we initially save only one per cent of water each year, this should have a snowball effect and we should fare well in the coming decades.

For any plan to succeed there must be a shared belief that the rising tide of recovery will raise every boat, not just some. Therefore, it is essential to involve all stakeholders whilst formulating a strategy. The recovery initiative has to comprise more than mere issuance of another policy: it has to be backed by political will, accountability and the commitment to change attitudes.

To a teeming segment of our population, the key to life is the provision of clean water. That so little has been done in this field is unfortunate. The numbers affected are not just statistics, they represent real people awaiting real action.

DAWN.COM | Editorial | The looming water crisis

 

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Pakistan's zeal to insert the "water issue" in the bilateral talks is being seen here as an attempt to divert popular attention back home from the mismanagement of its water resources and the growing discontent in Sindh and Balochistan over the denial of their share of Indus waters.

Analysts here have been struck by the way Pakistan's political class and the jehadi establishment have teamed up to unleash a propaganda offensive against India's "machinations" to rob the neighbouring country of its legitimate share of Indus waters.

With leading jehadis Hafiz Saeed and his deputy Abdur Rahman Makki of Lashkar warning of serious repercussions, holding out the grim warning of "Muslims dying of thirst would drink blood of India", the official establishment has scarcely been subtle in upping the ante on the emotionally fraught issue where agriculture remains the mainstay of economy. A full spectrum of devices -- from statements from the PM downwards to official briefings and remarks of official spokespersons endorsing fears of theft of Pakistan's water by India -- have been used to elevate water to the level of "core issue" -- a description so far reserved for the dispute ove J&K.

The government-jehadi concert has raised suspicions here whether Pakistan is raising a bogey to thwart the construction of storage dams on western rivers at Bursar (J&K) and Gyspa (HP) by India in keeping with its entitlement under Indus Water Treaty. It is also suspected that the larger gameplan could be to seek arbitration outside the Permanent Indus Water Commission the two countries have.

The grievance narrative, however, suffers from serious infirmities. Analysts point out that Indus Water Treaty of 1960 -- an agreement which has so far endured despite conflicts -- allocated the three eastern rivers (Sutlej, Beas and Ravi) of Indus system to India, whereas the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum and Chenab) were assigned to Pakistan. Importantly, western rivers are far more bountiful than eastern rivers -- mean flow of 136 million acre feet (MAF) against a mere 33 MAF in that order.

India, however, did not let the huge gap come in the way as it decided to pay Pakistan a compensation of 62 million pound sterling for construction of `replacement' canals as compensation for waters of eastern rivers. While this was a rare instance of upper riparian state (India) giving disproportionately, India also accepted severe restrictions on the use of waters of western rivers.

As it escalates its campaign against India over water issue, Islamabad, those familiar with the matter said, was concealing from its people such crucial facts that India is yet to avail of its entitlement to build storage for up to 3.6 MAF on western rivers. Or, for that matter, that of the crop area of 13,43,477 acres that India is allowed to irrigate using waters of western rivers, India has so far been irrigating only 7,92,426 acres.

At the root of the `misinformation campaign' lies a complex web of issues, including the "water greed" of northern part of Pakistan's Punjab which has seen not just Sindh and Balochistan but also, increasingly, southern Punjab in that country going without their legitimate share of Indus waters.

The mismanagement by Pakistan coupled with the fact that Indus waters carry more silt -- giving rise to real and ever-worsening problem of siltation -- has resulted in Indus waters not reaching the whole length of the canals in Pakistan. To compound matters, deforestation and rising temperatures mean a huge depletion in flow of water to Pakistan.

Islamabad recognises the problem is going to deepen with analysts projecting a water deficit of 30% by 2025. Like in the case of many of its other problems, it has decided to deflect the attention towards India.

Water Pakistan's diversionary tactic? - India - The Times of India

 

[LCA Tejas]

Mis management.... Water is precious,No wasting it Neighbours....

 

[blueoval79]

A Pakistani Source:


NEW DELHI, mar 9: India on Tuesday dismissed Pakistan’s concerns over flow of water and attributed its woes to “mismanagement of water resources and an attempt to divert attention from growing discontent in Sindh and Balochistan over denial of their share of Indus waters.” Pledging commitment to Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in letter and spirit, senior Indian officials here blamed Pakistan for making water a “populist issue” and expressed concern for handing this issue over to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) for raising anti-Indian sentiments.

They described propaganda unleashed by both Pakistan’s political class as well as jihadi elements against India’s “machinations to rob the neighbouring country from its share or water” a source of concern as well as figment of imagination. They denied plans to build any storage projects on the western rivers, Indus, Jhelum and Chenab which account for an average water flow of 135 million acre feet (MAF). But revealed that surveys were being conducted to explore possibility of small conservation storage projects on Chenab.

They believed that Pakistan was concealing crucial facts from its public. According to officials, out of 135 MAF flowing through western rivers, India has right to utilise 3.6 MAF for storage projects. Even for irrigation purposes, India has used under 0.8 MAF as against 1.3 MAF allowed in the IWT. In other words, of the crop area of 13,43,477 acres that India is allowed to irrigate using waters of western rivers, it has far been irrigating only 7,92,426 acres.

Officials further said India had provided 62 million pounds to Pakistan under the treaty to construct ‘replacement’ canals as compensation for surrendering eastern rivers for India. But, India has not been able to harness the entire potential of eastern rivers laving 3 MAF water flowing to Pakistan.

Coupled with mismanagement of water resources, Pakistan’s woes are compounded by rising silt levels in Indus waters, deforestation and rising temperatures. That means Indus waters were not reaching whole length of the canals in Pakistan and the country may experience a deficit of 30 per cent of water by 2025. Further due to silting at the Tarbela and Mangla dams Pakistan has lost 32 per cent of its storage capacity.

Officials said at the time of enacting of IWT, India and Pakistan had irrigable areas at 26 million acres and 39 million acres respectively under these six rivers. The water made available to Pakistan was 135.6 MAF and to India 32.8 MAF. This means for India only 1.26 feet of water is available for its agriculture and for Pakistan’s agriculture it is 3.5 feet.

Quoting Pakistan’s own documents, Indian officials said about 30 MAF water was “available surplus” to Pakistan with a very high escapage to the sea. They believe that Pakistan’s irrigation efficiency is also low, at an estimated 40 per cent.
Further the river flow from India to Pakistan has almost halved between 1999 and 2009 due to reduced rainfall and snow melt.

There are 33 hydroelectric projects by India including Baglihar and Kishanganaga, which are run-of-river projects permissible under the treaty, the sources said. The information about all these projects, based on their various stages, have been provided to Pakistan, they said.

"India has all along adhered to the provisions of the treaty. There has never been the slightest of tinkering from our side," officials said, adding that most of the issues raised by Pakistan have been those of technical nature and should be addressed by the mechanism of the Permanent Indus Commission.
The allegations by the Adviser to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Education, Sardar Aseff Ali, that India "steals" water has whipped public hysteria.

"We would ask them (the Pakistan government) to get their act together and do a better management of water. 38 million acre feet (MAF) water constitutes what is known as average escapage to sea," the officials said.

Kashmir Watch :: In-depth coverage on Kashmir conflict

 

[manojb]

Visit South Asia - Indus Waters Treaty for the official neutral information !

 

[blueoval79]

Pakistan getting more water than it’s entitled to

NEW DELHI: Dismissing demands by some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that Delhi provide more water to Pakistan, Indian Home Secretary GK Pillai on Wednesday said Pakistan was getting more water than it was entitled to under the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).

Calling the charges of water terrorism against Islamabad “absurd”, the home secretary said, “There have been 200 joint inspections since Independence, to which Pakistan too has signed and has had no complaints. They are getting more water than they are entitled to.”

Speaking at a seminar, he called for a more pro-active approach to apprise the public and the world about “the reality of the water issue”.

“We have not put up our side across. We should put out a paper on what is happening. With Pakistan, the communication is more one-way and they do not want to listen,” he said.

Also speaking at the occasion, former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said Islamabad wanted the water issue to be on the agenda of any talks and that India would lose out on strategy by agreeing to do so. “We have lost half the battle by allowing Pakistan to raise the issue. There is actually no issue. Hafiz Saeed and Pakistan are hammering away on the issue of water. There is a treaty and if there are any issues, there is a mechanism in the treaty to address them,” he said.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[EjazR]

Water row: India to put facts before world

Days after Lashkar-e-Toiba chief Hafiz Saeed accused India of waging a water war on Pakistan, India says its planning to lay the facts before the international community and call Islamabad’s bluff over water-sharing. Sources have told The Indian Express that it is “important to bring out the facts in the public domain”, and added, “we want to share this information with friendly countries”.
The water-sharing issue was raised during the recent Foreign Secretary-level talks on February 25 in which New Delhi had emphasised on resolving it within the 50-year-old Permanent Indus Commission — which was in effect even during the wars between the two countries in 1965 and 1971.

Even after 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, sources said the Indus water commissioners met twice in the last 15 months (in May 2009 and Feb 2010) and are planning to meet again by May 2010. There have been 103 meetings and 111 tours in the last five decades — averaging two meetings per year.

What has India concerned is that Pakistan’s establishment and political leaders began upping the ante only in the recent months — even putting it on the same level as the Kashmir issue — although New Delhi says it’s underutilising the water entitled to itself as per the treaty.

According to New Delhi’s assessment, Pakistan’s water troubles are an outcome of its own “poor water management” although Indus, Jhelum and Chenab (rivers belonging to Pakistan) have four times more water than Ravi, Beas and Sutlej (rivers belonging to India).

There are two bases, according to sources, to establish this. First, Pakistan government’s documents, accessed by sources in New Delhi, show that about 20 per cent of water received from the six rivers are available as “surplus”. Secondly, about 28 per cent of water available from Pakistan’s rivers — Indus, Jhelum and Chenab — flow unchecked into the sea and are wasted. Going by these documents, Pakistan has not built enough water storage capacity and is, therefore, leaving surplus water go completely unutilised. This is, therefore, giving rise to water scarcity in the face of a rapidly growing population in Pakistan.

 

[blueoval79]

^^^^^

Aha....Water diplomacy this time.....hope this initiative also goes as planned....

God luck Team India.

 

[blueoval79]

Do Pakistan’s claims over the Indus hold water?

Pakistan has, since 2009, virtually inscribed Indus waters as the “core issue”. Witness the Pakistan foreign secretary, Salman Bashir’s recent demarche in Delhi meshing with the heady jihadi rhetoric of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa/LeT chief, Hafiz Saeed.

The Indus Waters Treaty has worked well in a harsh environment of recurrent war and recrimination under the watchful eye of the Indus Commission, headed by empowered engineers fortified with a concurrent conflict management and resolution mechanism. A neutral expert was only summoned once, over Baglihar two years ago, a court of arbitration never. For the rest, the Indus commissioners have overseen current operations and future plans by means of a reasonably transparent and accountable process.

The treaty allocates the three western rivers (Indus, Jhelum and Chenab) wholly to Pakistan, but entitled India to irrigate 1.3 million acres and store 3.60 million acre feet of water for conservation, flood moderation and hydel generation within Jammu and Kashmir. India, in turn, was allocated the entire flows of the three eastern rivers (Sutlej, Beas and Ravi), barring minor irrigation uses for Pakistan from four nullahs that join the Ravi. In the final reckoning Pakistan got 80 per cent of the overall flows of the Indus and India 20 per cent.

Do Pakistan’s claims over the Indus hold water?

 

[ssheppard]

Water dispute: Indian MEA exposes Pak doublespeak

Even as the governments of India and Pakistan continue to use diplomatic channels to resolve all issues of conflict, the issue of availability and equal distribution of water is threatening to undermine all efforts to reduce tensions between the two countries.

The two nuclear-powered states have locked horns over Himalayan water resources for long, as both India and Pakistan are agrarian economies and suffer due to depleting water resources, which in turn leads to food and energy shortages.

The hostile neighbours have held several rounds of composite dialogue in the past with an aim to resolve the water dispute. However, it still tops the agenda whenever the top brass of India and Pakistan start any exercise to improve bilateral ties.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs recently collected credible evidence, which suggests how the distribution of water from rivers flowing to Pakistan from Jammu and Kashmir has become a bilateral flashpoint these days.

The MEA document also shows how various elements in Pakistan are using this issue to push hatred towards India by propagating that New Delhi is deliberately depriving Islamabad of its share of water guaranteed under the international Indus Water Treaty and destroying its agrarian economy.



Pakistan’s double speak

As the two nations get ready to hold the latest round of talks by the end of March to expedite the resolution of the water dispute, the MEA document further reveals that the political fraternity in Pakistan is highly divided on the issue and holds divergent views on the subject.

However, the Pakistani government attempts to challenge India at the international level on the issue of water distribution.

The MEA document, citing Indus Water Commissioner Sayyed Jamaat Ali Shah, says that the Pakistani official has admitted in his own country that all hydel projects built by India are in conformity with the Indus Water Treaty and implemented after obtaining necessary permissions.

Shah also agreed that the drought in Pakistan was not triggered by construction of dams by India, while stressing that the constant decline in the water level in the rivers was due to change in climatic conditions.

However, on a different occasion, Shah said that Islamabad was not bound to inform India about construction of dams and New Delhi also had no right to oppose any initiative for a third party mediation on the Indian Kishan-Ganga project.

Shah, while hinting at the proposed Pakistan-China joint venture in construction of dams, said that Islamabad wanted third party mediation since the Indo-Pak Commission had failed to resolve the issue.

Shah, while replying to a question, stated that the two sides wanted to resolve all water issues through negotiation in accordance with mechanism agreed upon in the Indus Water Basin Treaty.

As a guest speaker in a Radio Pakistan programme, Shah explained that the reduction in water towards Pakistan in recent days was due to hydro-metrology. He also held intensive irrigation regimes and poor drainage practices responsible for causing water-logging and soil salinity throughout Pakistan’s countryside.

He was responding to a report by the Planning and Development Division, which claimed that between 1997 and 2005, overall water availability decreased from 1,299 to 1,101m3 (cubic metres) per capita; another study puts that figure closer to 1,000m3.

The change in the weather has made the vast expanses of rich agricultural land in Pakistan too wet or salty to yield any meaningful harvest.

The admissions of top Pakistani officials are contrary to often repeated claims that India is responsible for the plight of farmers and poor harvest in the country.

The row over water distribution has echoed in Pakistan’s National Assembly from time to time.

Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Water and Electricity, Raja Pervez Ashraf recently informed the National Assembly that India is within its rights under the Indus Water Treaty to build dams on the Jhelum and Chenab Rivers.

In addition, he said that India possesses the right to make 13 lakh acres of land cultivatable and to store 2.85 MAF of water. He further said that the Baglihar Dam will not adversely impact Pakistan. He also said that when the water commission officials could not resolve the dispute, it was settled with the help of neutral and global water experts. He said after the Mangla and Tarbela dams, study for 31 small dams in provinces is now complete and tenders for 12 dams are also over.

MQM's Ayyub Sheikh alleged that India was blocking Pakistani waters and was also persuading Afghanistan to build a dam in Kabul. On his turn, Abdul Sattar said that the Saraiki belt was facing acute water shortage and demanded that water be released from Punjab’s share to the Saraiki belt via Taunsa Pinjad. He warned that the Saraiki belt can turn into a barren patch of land if water is not released soon.

Terrorists capitalising on water dispute

Another interesting aspect of the MEA report is that it showcases how banned militant outfit chiefs are trying to capitalise on this row and garner maximum public sympathy for their anti-India campaign.

The MEA quoted a report published in The Dawn, which said Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed mobilized farmers from Punjab in Lahore on March 7 alleging that India was diverting waters to strangulate Pakistan.

However, in his venomous speech, Saeed mostly talked about how Muslims were being ill-treated in Kashmir, Ayodhya, Afghanistan etc. The JuD chief even went to the extent of accusing India of conspiring to create an inter-provincial war in Pakistan.

Central JuD leader Maulana Amir Hamza also endorsed Saeed’s opinion and said that India was instigating sectarian violence in Pakistan, but that Sindhis, Balochs, Pathans, Punjabis and Kashmiris were united and willing to make sacrifices against India. He said they rejected the Sindh Water Treaty, a statement which was met with loud shouts of support against India and the Sindh Treaty.

The Indus Water Treaty (1960)

Under the Indus Water Treaty (1960) - sponsored by the UK, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Canada - India and Pakistan were given control of three rivers each, originating from Jammu and Kashmir.

The World Bank-mediated agreement made a gentle attempt to let both adversaries share the available water resources by allotting the eastern rivers (Ravi, Sutlej and Beas) to India and the western rivers (Jhelum, Chenab and Sindh) to Pakistan.

However, India’s recent announcement to build water reservoirs on Kashmiri rivers has become a major bone of contention between the two nations.

India's construction of a 450-megawatt Baglihar hydel project on the Chenab River, which flows from Jammu and Kashmir into Pakistan, has ignited a fresh war of words.

The 470-feet high, 317-meter wide dam, with a storage capacity of 15 billion cusecs of water, has significantly reduced water flow to agriculture-dependent Pakistan, as claimed by Pakistani officials.

Also, the age-old water dispute between Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan has further complicated the issue. In a bid to resolve the issue, the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) recently released 5,000 cusecs of more water to Sindh and 2,000 cusecs more water to Punjab. As a result of the new deal, Punjab’s share of water has now gone up to 57,000 cusecs, while Sindh’s has gone up to 40,000. In addition, IRSA has allowed Punjab to take an additional 2,000 cusecs from Thal.

Pakistan blames India, saying it is withholding millions of cubic feet of water upstream on Chenab in Kashmir and storing it in the massive Baglihar Dam in order to produce hydro-electricity. Pakistan has termed the construction of Baglihar Dam a breach of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty designed to administer water use in the region.

However, as the situation stands, Pakistan is weighing its options of filing simultaneous complaints with the World Bank and seeking mediation by the International Court of Arbitration against India for violating the Treaty, citing unauthorised use of Chenab river.

India, on its part, has been reiterating its stand that any decline in flow of water towards Pakistan is “purely due to the climatic effect which impacts the entire region”, while denying any theft on its part.

After several consultations, composite dialogue, coupled with widespread protests both in India and Pakistan, the row over the distribution of water still remains unresolved. While India has invited Pakistan for crucial talks over controversial projects including Baglihar and Kishenganga, the situation also warrants the two sides to be vigilant in not allowing the non-state actors to succeed in their nefarious designs shielding themselves under bureaucratic war of words.

Water dispute: MEA exposes Pak double speak

 

[ssheppard]

What water wars?

Pakistan, for reasons of its own, has decided to raise water as a major new issue with India. This is an ominous development, perhaps the most ominous ever in the troubled history of the relations between the two countries. If the Kashmir issue were to be miraculously resolved tomorrow, water will be the new core issue.
There has been a vicious anti-India campaign in the Pakistani media for some time now, and it is getting worse. India is accused of “stealing” Pakistan’s water; reducing river flows; stopping the Chenab; constructing “illegal” projects on the western rivers; desertifying Pakistan; and so on. Terrorist outfits have picked up this issue and given an ultimatum to India: “Let water flow or face war”. As for civil society, it is likely to find the slogan of “water in danger” persuasive. The whole of Pakistan, including intellectuals, liberals, and advocates of good relations with India, are likely to allow themselves to be mobilised against the perceived Indian threat to Pakistan’s water.

This outcome is perhaps exactly what the Pakistan army wanted. Is not a national sense of insecurity the best guarantor of the continuance of the army’s dominance? As for the government of Pakistan, one does not know whether it is raising this issue in strong terms at the behest of the army, or for reasons of its own. What is their rationale?

One possibility is that, faced with the Indian focus on terrorism and the discomfort that it causes to Pakistan, the latter has decided to turn the tables on India. Another explanation is that this is an attempt to deflect bitter inter-provincial dissensions over water within Pakistan by attributing water problems to Indian action, and rousing anger against that “national enemy”. A combination of the two is perhaps the full explanation.

The fact that needs to be stated clearly and categorically is that there is no water issue between India and Pakistan. Water-sharing on the Indus stands settled by the Indus Treaty 1960, and the sharing is so simple (three rivers to India, three rivers to Pakistan) that no misunderstandings or misinterpretations are possible. (There is indeed some dissatisfaction in both countries with the water-sharing under the treaty, but they have to live with it as it was the agreed outcome of prolonged negotiations approved at the highest level in both countries.) For monitoring the operation, there is a joint Indus Commission mandated by the treaty. The differences that can arise and have arisen under the treaty relate not to water-sharing but to questions of conformity of Indian projects on the western rivers (permitted by the treaty) to the technical and engineering stipulations laid down in the treaty. There are provisions and procedures for dealing with such “differences” or “disputes”. Those arrangements have been working. Internationally, the Indus Treaty is regarded as a good example of successful conflict-resolution between two countries otherwise locked in a bad relationship. The Indus Commission meets regularly. In one case (Baglihar) the differences were arbitrated by a neutral expert as provided for by the treaty. Pending or future “questions” or disputes can similarly be dealt with in the Indus Commision, through reference to a neutral expert or through submission to a court of arbitration. There is thus no case at all for including water in the agenda for future India-Pakistan talks.

By handing over a “non-paper” on water to India, Pakistan has succeeded in putting India in a dilemma. If India were to refuse to include water in the agenda for talks on the ground that there is another forum for water-related issues, namely the Indus Commission, it may give the appearance of intransigence or negativism to the people of Pakistan and to the world. On the other hand, if India were to agree to the inclusion, the very inscription of water on the agenda may be interpreted as an implicit admission by India that there is a water issue to discuss.

In the case of other issues such as Kashmir or the nuclear issue, there are points to discuss or counter and positions to take, but how does one discuss a non-issue? All that India can say — and must keep saying — is that there is no water issue; that the Indus Treaty is in operation; and that any question or difference or dispute that arises in the course of such operation can and must be discussed within the ambit and framework of that Treaty.

However, such a statement will not remove the misperceptions on the part of the people of Pakistan. India must somehow find ways of telling them that they have been deliberately misled; that India has not “stolen” Pakistan’s water; that it has not even made use of or stored the waters of the Indus to the very limited extent permitted by the treaty; that it has not reduced river flows and cannot do so because there are stringent provisions regarding the maintenance of flows; that the treaty does not permit India to construct storages on the western rivers; that the treaty also provides safeguards to Pakistan against the danger of being flooded; that India has not constructed and is not constructing any “illegal” projects on the western rivers; that everything is being done within the ambit of the treaty; that there are provisions for dealing with any differences; that those provisions have been utilised in the Baglihar case and can be used again; that the water issue is therefore a bogus issue manufactured by the army and the government for strategic and political purposes, and a massive confidence trick on the people of Pakistan.

What water wars?

 

[Trichy]

^^^^ all your words are going vain only no use my friend, they don't accept their(GoP) fault at any cost

 

[blackwater 007]

The real picture is. According to BBC, India is not stopping Pakistan's water nor stealing it. What India is doing, realeasing water at wrong time of year. India realises water, when there is flood situtation in India every year. It measures the water and send report to indus commision so legally we have gave your annual quota. The probelm starts when that water reaches Pakistan and washed away becoz you don't have enough dams to stop and store that water to be used when neeeded.

If your govt did't make enough dams to store and stop those water. why blame India. Blame your corrupt leaders who never showed interest in these issues and filling up there pockets for the last 62 yrs.

leggaly you can't do anything we are giving your share but at wrong time.

smart move ha

 

[Hutchroy]

Hillary douses Pak's ire on water; says it's a bilateral issue

WASHINGTON: The United States has doused a major Pakistani complaint against India on water sharing, telling Islamabad it would be "sensible" to look to the existing bilateral mechanism to resolve the issue with New Delhi.

Ahead of a two-day "strategic dialogue" between US and Pakistan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rejected Islamabad's efforts to have Washington mediate in its grievance against India on water issues, while offering US help on better using its existing resources.

"We're well aware that there is a 50-year-old agreement between Pakistan and India concerning water," Clinton told a Pakistani interviewer who suggested a US role in the matter. "Where there is an agreement... with mediation techniques, arbitration built in, it would seem sensible to look to what already exists to try to resolve any of the bilateral problems between India and Pakistan."

The high-level Pakistani delegation that will begin talks with US interlocutors on Wednesday had penciled its water "dispute" with India as one of the items that needed US intervention. Some Indian experts believe Pakistan is essentially extrapolating the water issue to seek US mediation on Kashmir (since river heads are mostly in Kashmir), a subject Washington is leery of touching.

Pakistan has raised the water issue to toxic levels in recent months, going to the extent of accusing India of "stealing" water and terming it "water terrorism." India, which progressively viewed the heightening rhetoric with incredulity and lately alarm, has rejected the charges.

Indian experts, and even some Pakistani analysts, say the Pakistani establishment has deliberately whipped up a frenzy on the issue to counter Indian focus on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and deflect attention from intra-provincial water disputes arising from poor utilization of existing resources.

Clinton referred to it as much, saying the US wanted to "help Pakistan make better use of the water that you do have. That's going to have to be the first priority in countries including our own."

"Let's see what we do to protect our aquifers. Let's see what we do to be more efficient in the use of our water. Let's see what we do to capture more rainwater; how do we actually use less of it to produce more crops? We think we have some ideas with our experts that we want to sit down and talk with your experts about and see where that goes," she said in what appeared to be an effort to defuse Pakistani grievance.

The leader of the US delegation for Wednesday's talks offered a sobering assessment -- and perhaps a dampening one for Pakistan -- of the long road that lay before Islamabad before it could aspire to have the kind of ties New Delhi has developed with Washington.

Pressed repeatedly in two interviews she gave Pakistani TV networks ahead of the talks as to why Pakistan could not have a civilian nuclear agreement of the kind India signed with the US, Clinton said that deal was a "result of many, many years of strategic dialogue. It did not happen easily or quickly."

She was sure Pakistan was going to raise the issue of a civilian nuclear deal and "we're going to be considering it," she disclosed, but added "I can't prejudge or preempt what the outcome of our discussions will be."

The two interviews were full of querulous complaints and grievances expressed by the Pakistani questioners, reflecting the resentment of the country's establishment that has become the basis for talks. "How come the money (from the Kerry-Lugar aid bill) has been so slow in coming, because we desperately are in need of that money?" went one question.

"Well, the money is in what we call the pipeline. It's not easily conveyed because there are all these rules we have to follow, but it is being delivered," Clinton explained. "Money is coming forward. And we're well aware of Pakistan's financial challenges. We're going to do everything we can to expedite the flow."

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

India stealing or stopping water flow will only result in a catastrophic war ..!