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With India Mulling To Scrap The Indus Water Treaty, Here Are The Concerns It Should First Address
For most of last week, a little known water treaty has become the centre point of India's diplomatic salvos at Pakistan. From finding a mention in PM Modi's recent speech to being mentioned in the UN by India's envoy, the 56-year-old Indus water treaty finds itself not in the middle of a storm, but the storm itself. With India contemplating the possibility of scraping the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 with Pakistan, the future of more than a billion people rests on the result of a meeting led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Indus Treaty survived full scale wars in 1965, 1971 along with the Kargil conflict, and attacks on 26/11 in Mumbai and Pathankot attacks. So does Uri attack merit a response this big?
Before we hope for any colossal decision be taken, there are several ifs and buts which need to addressed before we think of closing the tap on the Indus.
Here are major repercussions India would be and should be wary of before taking a decision.
First, what is the Indus Water treaty?
The Indus treaty is called the world’s most generous water-sharing arrangement. Signed on September 19, 1960, it shows how India and Pakistan share the water six rivers – The eastern Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, and western Indus, Chenab and Jhelum and their tributaries.
How Pakistan is benefited from this?
1. Pakistan gets 80% of the water in the 6-river Indus system. This is 90 times greater volume of water than Mexico’s share under a 1944 pact with the US.
2. It is Asia’s only treaty with specific water-sharing formulas on cross-border flows.
3. A virtual line on the Indian map splits the Indus basin.
4. India’s sovereignty lies in the lower rivers, Pakistan’s in the upper.
5. Only water pact compelling an upper riparian state to defer to the interests of a downstream state.
If we scrap it, we will flood our cities
Before we scrap the treaty, we should ponder over this - where would the water, prevented from flowing into Pakistan, go? It would go to our own states, and since we don't have enough dams and canals to channelise the flow of the water, we are certain to flood our cities, especially in Jammu & Kashmir.
J&K is a mountainous state which would prevent the water from flowing towards the lower plains. Had the Indus flowed in Punjab or Haryana, the natural flow to lower plains would have prevented from flooding the cities. If we scrap the treaty in haste, an Uttrakhand like situation is possible.
Since Kashmir isn't an agricultural state, any short terms measure to build infrastructure wouldn't be of much help. And it would take years if India does mull building infrastructure to bring this water to Punjab. From here, with help of a canal system associated with Bhakra Nangal Project, the water can be channelised into states like Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Since we don't have infrastructure in place, any decision in haste could be catastrophic.
Does India's UN Security Council dream take a beating?
India dreams of becoming a permanent member of the UNSC and its claim to the elite club isn't a joke anymore. Major powers, except China, have given silent consent for India's inclusion. But the scraping the treaty would lead to a loss of credibility, since Indus Water Treaty also involves the World Bank.
At present, India has cornered Pakistan, both in UN as well as at other international levels. Scraping of the treaty would tilt the sympathies of international community in Pakistan's favour which would definitely play the victim card.
What if China stops the flow of Indus and Brahmaputra?
China is Pakistan's all weather friend, and if India tightens the noose around Pakistan over tapping the Indus water, China might retaliate in order to safeguard its USD 1.5 billion investment in Pakistan - the CPEC. China doesn't have a water sharing treaty with India and can stop flow of Indus by building a dam. Not only Indus, but other rivers like Brahmaputra too originate from China and the country is already constructing a dam on the river. This is likely to affect the flow of water into India's north-east. If China decide to divert the Indus, India could lose as much as 36 per cent of the river's water.
If India scraps Indus treaty, given the current geo-political scenario, China might strangle the inflow of rivers from its territories into India.
http://www.indiatimes.com/news/with...-concerns-it-should-first-address-262399.html
For most of last week, a little known water treaty has become the centre point of India's diplomatic salvos at Pakistan. From finding a mention in PM Modi's recent speech to being mentioned in the UN by India's envoy, the 56-year-old Indus water treaty finds itself not in the middle of a storm, but the storm itself. With India contemplating the possibility of scraping the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 with Pakistan, the future of more than a billion people rests on the result of a meeting led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Indus Treaty survived full scale wars in 1965, 1971 along with the Kargil conflict, and attacks on 26/11 in Mumbai and Pathankot attacks. So does Uri attack merit a response this big?
Before we hope for any colossal decision be taken, there are several ifs and buts which need to addressed before we think of closing the tap on the Indus.
Here are major repercussions India would be and should be wary of before taking a decision.
First, what is the Indus Water treaty?
The Indus treaty is called the world’s most generous water-sharing arrangement. Signed on September 19, 1960, it shows how India and Pakistan share the water six rivers – The eastern Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, and western Indus, Chenab and Jhelum and their tributaries.
How Pakistan is benefited from this?
1. Pakistan gets 80% of the water in the 6-river Indus system. This is 90 times greater volume of water than Mexico’s share under a 1944 pact with the US.
2. It is Asia’s only treaty with specific water-sharing formulas on cross-border flows.
3. A virtual line on the Indian map splits the Indus basin.
4. India’s sovereignty lies in the lower rivers, Pakistan’s in the upper.
5. Only water pact compelling an upper riparian state to defer to the interests of a downstream state.
If we scrap it, we will flood our cities
Before we scrap the treaty, we should ponder over this - where would the water, prevented from flowing into Pakistan, go? It would go to our own states, and since we don't have enough dams and canals to channelise the flow of the water, we are certain to flood our cities, especially in Jammu & Kashmir.
J&K is a mountainous state which would prevent the water from flowing towards the lower plains. Had the Indus flowed in Punjab or Haryana, the natural flow to lower plains would have prevented from flooding the cities. If we scrap the treaty in haste, an Uttrakhand like situation is possible.
Since Kashmir isn't an agricultural state, any short terms measure to build infrastructure wouldn't be of much help. And it would take years if India does mull building infrastructure to bring this water to Punjab. From here, with help of a canal system associated with Bhakra Nangal Project, the water can be channelised into states like Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Since we don't have infrastructure in place, any decision in haste could be catastrophic.
Does India's UN Security Council dream take a beating?
India dreams of becoming a permanent member of the UNSC and its claim to the elite club isn't a joke anymore. Major powers, except China, have given silent consent for India's inclusion. But the scraping the treaty would lead to a loss of credibility, since Indus Water Treaty also involves the World Bank.
At present, India has cornered Pakistan, both in UN as well as at other international levels. Scraping of the treaty would tilt the sympathies of international community in Pakistan's favour which would definitely play the victim card.
What if China stops the flow of Indus and Brahmaputra?
China is Pakistan's all weather friend, and if India tightens the noose around Pakistan over tapping the Indus water, China might retaliate in order to safeguard its USD 1.5 billion investment in Pakistan - the CPEC. China doesn't have a water sharing treaty with India and can stop flow of Indus by building a dam. Not only Indus, but other rivers like Brahmaputra too originate from China and the country is already constructing a dam on the river. This is likely to affect the flow of water into India's north-east. If China decide to divert the Indus, India could lose as much as 36 per cent of the river's water.
If India scraps Indus treaty, given the current geo-political scenario, China might strangle the inflow of rivers from its territories into India.
http://www.indiatimes.com/news/with...-concerns-it-should-first-address-262399.html
