Pakistan’s blame game to seek concessions from India on Indus Water Treaty

While attending recently concluded ‘UN 2023 Water Conference’, Hasan Nisar Jamy, Pakistan’s Water Resources Ministry Secretary stated, “Indus Water Treaty (IWT), which governs sharing of the Indus basin’s waters, is one example of such successful cooperation, which provides an effective mechanism for cooperation and management on water issues.” Islamabad is seeking it to be a model for all future trans-border water agreements.

The observers in the UN Conference pointed out that the Indus Water Treaty itself speaks of its effectiveness in water sharing management between the two neighbours as even after six decades both the countries still adhere to the treaty.

But at the same conference Pakistan blamed India for its water shortages citing various agreements, ET has learnt. The Pakistani intention is to malign Indian image and stall water development projects in upper riparian water resources of Indus Basin Irrigation System, which are legally agreed upon and shared under the IWT, sources said. But Pakistan has always described the treaty as unfair despite obtaining a good share of water.

The IWT treaty clearly permits India to construct hydro-electric power projects by intimating Pakistan about the design of the dam and Pakistan. Pakistan could make objections only on technical grounds like size of spillways, pondage, for sediment outlets and placement of power intakes only. The IWT provides a mechanism to address these technical issues under which it could be done only through neutral expert’s arbitration.

The flexibility in the IWT has been provided considering advancement in technology of dam construction, which not only facilitates more conservation but also its judicious utilization. Since signing of the IWT in 1960, there have been significant changes in technical aspects of dam construction, water preservation, storage and management.

In case of Baglihar dam, neutral experts ruled in favour of India arguing that the new technology, even if not fully in accordance with the treaty, would prolong the life of the project and was in everyone’s interest. Pakistan intends delaying the Indian projects, hoping for a greater share in the un-utilized Indian water share and causing irritants for India through future possible confrontations and lobbying, sources alleged. Pakistan is among the top 10 water scarce countries in the world. On many occasions, global experts have sounded the alarm and expressed that by 2050 the Himalayan glaciers will be melted and if Pakistan does not take the right steps, there will be severe floods during the rainy season.

Pakistan will have to suffer a loss of USD 30 to 40 billion every second or third year, if it fails to manage its water resources properly. Pakistan lacks a proper water management plan and financial resources. It is under pressure due to its rapidly increasing population which has risen by six to seven times since Independence, Pak watchers pointed out.

One of the consequences of climate change has been a decrease in the overall flows in the Indus river system by about 5% from 1960 and now expected to deplete rapidly. During the last rainy season, 40-million-acre feet of water were lost to the sea due to lack of dams in Pakistan.

Islamabad would have stored 4-5,00,000 cusecs water per day, by constructing Kalabagh Dam, controlling the volume of stormy rains in Sindh and Balochistan including Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, and through the Indus River, according to Pakistan watchers. According to these experts, construction of the dam could have controlled the 2022 catastrophic flooding in Pakistan.

Shamsul Mulk (a Pakistani civil engineer and a Technocrat. Shamsul Mulk also served as the 24th Chief Minister of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province under the Military Government of Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf) had recently pointed out that Pakistan should have done complete planning to control all the flood waters it receives.

Pakistan had also demonstrated a callous approach in managing its freshwater sources. Daanish Mustafa, a geographer, also criticised the colonial and postcolonial irrigation systems alleging that they effectively curbed the natural cycle of high frequency-low intensity flood events, which were vital for the natural ecology of the region.

Sources allege that Islamabad, putting onus on India, is blaming construction of Kishenganga (330 MW) and Ratle (850 MW) hydroelectric power plants to mask its own failures in managing water resources. As per IWT, India is permitted to construct hydroelectric power facilities on these rivers and they are not financed by the World Bank either. Given the impact of climatic change and increasing population, India’s suggestion to revisit the water sharing treaties with Pakistan, is well placed, sources claimed.