Water dispute between India and Pakistan PDF

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Water dispute between India and Pakistan Water dispute between India and Pakistan: Water is critical for life but unfortunately Pakistan is in the grip of its scarcity. Since its independence, Pakistan is facing acute water shortage. The unjustifiable partition of Punjab in 1947 gave birth to the conflicts between two neighboring countries i.e. Pakistan and India. The roots of water dispute can be traced to the creation of Pakistan and India in 1947 when India was partitioned. Moreover, India tightened its grip on water source by occupying part of Kashmir, wherefrom six rivers that irrigate crops in Pakistan’s heartland of Punjab province and elsewhere. The Indus Waters Treaty, a water-sharing treaty between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank (then the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), was signed in Karachi on September 19, 1960. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan President Mohammad Ayub Khan had signed the treaty as a result of Pakistani fear that since the source of the rivers comprising Indus basin was in India, it could potentially create droughts and famines in Pakistan. The Indus rivers system comprises three western rivers including the Indus, the Jhelum and Chenab and three eastern rivers including the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi. With minor exceptions, the treaty gives India exclusive right over use of all of the waters of the eastern rivers and their tributaries before the point where the rivers enter Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistan has exclusive right over use of the western rivers. Pakistan also received one-time financial compensation for the loss of water from the eastern rivers. In recent years, the construction of new dams by India on the rivers passing through occupied Kashmir the water shortage has become a crucial issue for Pakistan. The agriculture sector of Pakistan is faced with drought-like conditions and being agro-based, the economy of Pakistan is near to collapse. Under the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty, Pakistan was deprived of the right on three major rivers. To compensate the loss of its tributaries, Pakistan built dams on Indus and Jhelum rivers but with the population growth the available water failed to meet the increasing demand and resultantly water shortage occurred. On the other hand, India did not want to compromise with Pakistan and also violated the terms and conditions of the Indus Basin Waters Treaty. It is stated in the treaty that before starting any project regarding water both the countries would give technical details to each other. Because of the stubbornness of India, the diplomatic relations between the two countries always remained strained. 2. 2 India denies having intention to cut off water flow to Pakistan and maintains that it has complied with the treaty. New Delhi, however, violated the Indus Waters Treaty and started construction of Wullar barrage on River Jhelum. The size of Wullar freshwater lake in Bandipura district of occupied Jammu and Kashmir varies from 30 to 260 square kilometers. Pakistan suffered badly because of the construction of this barrage because it highly depended on this river for power generation as well as irrigation. But Pakistan has failed to properly address the problem because of domestic political problems. The Pakistan-India relations have been hostile since the independence of the two countries from the British colonial rule. The dispute between two South Asian rivals on Kashmir and water issue played major role in these hostile relations. Although Pakistan has always been desirous of settlement of the two issues with India through negotiations, the latter never showed seriousness to settle the contentious issues with the former and always avoided decisive talks on one pretext or the other. The shortage of water in Pakistan is growing with the passage of each day because of the

adverse Indian moves as well as the climate change. As the water shortage is fast becoming a serious threat to Pakistani economy and may in turn translate into a security threat for the country, some bold steps are needed by the Pakistan government to address this vital issue before it emerges as a threat to the very security of the country. India has almost completed many dams and engineering projects to divert the course of rivers which are the legitimate right of Pakistan; like the dam under construction on River Chenab just 70 Km away from Pakistan borders and the world community did nothing about it. Pakistan is a peaceful and responsible country. Pakistan has adopted a policy of restraint from armed conflict and is looking to the world community to prevail upon India for settlement of the disputes of Jammu & Kashmir, stealth of waters of Pakistan by India and other disputes. India refuses to negotiate on self generated pretexts. The policy of restraint by the Government of Pakistan is read by India as weakness. The people of Pakistan are growing impatient by every passing day. They are demanding from the government to blast off those dams with missiles that are built by India to steal the waters that are meant for Pakistan, according to Indus Waters Treaty 1960. Agriculture in Pakistan has already suffered a great deal and as of now Pakistan is facing a draught like situation due to denial of waters by India. People of Pakistan only think that it is better to die as result of a nuclear war then die of hunger. Let the world community know that there exists an inevitable cause for a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Water disputes and liberation of the people of Jammu & Kashmir are the cause. India’s denial for a peaceful solution of disputes with Pakistan has further fueled the situation to become worst....