Gas on water

Bluff and bluster on Indus water sharing

A disinformation campaign of sorts has been unleashed by some in Pakistan and their fellow travellers in the West, especially in the United States, on the issue of river water sharing between India and Pakistan. Disputes between riparian states on river water sharing are frequent and routine, and nothing sinister need be read into them. There have been more inter-state arguments within India on river water sharing than there have been between India and its neighbours.

Further, the fact remains that India and Pakistan have had a remarkably dispute-free implementation of their bilateral accord, the Indus Waters Treaty. Whenever disputes became intractable both countries found a way of resolving them. Recall, for example, the manner in which President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh resolved the dispute over the Baglihar Dam project on river Chenab. A neutral expert was appointed and his verdict was accepted by both sides.

What is important to note is that the neutral expert’s view was not very different from India’s. Having lost the argument on Baglihar, a new one has been manufactured on Kishenganga and many self-appointed western experts have filled columns of newspapers with their criticism of India. It was, therefore, brave of Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to remind all concerned that wastage of water within Pakistan was as important an issue as its concern about Indian pilferage. In considering Pakistan’s charges two facts must be kept in mind. First, under the Indus Water Treaty Pakistan gets 80 per cent of the waters flowing down the river. There is no evidence, apart from sporadic occurrences, of the actual flow being less than the agreed share. Second, while all the water due to Pakistan enters its territory, very little trickles out into the Arabian Sea. The rivers run dry when they leave the Punjab province of Pakistan and enter the Sind province, contributing to the latter’s desertification.

The real problem is that Pakistan's water management system is in utter disarray. Its reservoirs are filled up with sediments and the extensive canal system, built mostly in the pre-Independence era, is aging and requires renovation and repairs. As for the hydro-electric project on river Kishenganga (known as Neelum in Pakistan), Pakistan's objections were addressed by India years ago when the project was reconfigured and its engineering designs changed. In its present form, it is virtually a run-of-the-river project, as permitted by the terms of the treaty. Critics of the project overlook the provisions of the Indus waters treaty which allow India to build water storages aggregating to 3.6 million acre feet (MAF) on the three west-flowing rivers (Indus, Jhelum and Chenab) in Jammu and Kashmir, apart from 0.75 MAF of storage for flood moderation and 1.25 MAF for non-consumptive uses, including hydel power production. Much of this entitlement is unutilised so far.

The Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan has set the record straight in a public lecture in Karachi last week. This should set at rest avoidable fears in Pakistan of a ‘water war’. Needless to add, having been generous at the time of drafting the Indus Treaty, India can ill afford any further sacrifice of her entitlement to these waters, especially when the real beneficiaries will be the people of Kashmir.