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History of dispute:
Indus water dispute was a legacy of the Partition. The line dividing the two Punjabs cut right across the Indus canal systems developed over a hundred years. Pakistan found that the headwaters of the main canals were on the Indian side of the border. All the five tributaries of the Indus also originated in India and flowed through Indian territory in the upper reaches. Even before Partition, Sindh and Punjab had witnessed wrangles over the sharing of the waters of these rivers. The situation worsened after the holocaust of the Partition. There were hysterical cries in Pakistan for taking up arms to defend their rights over the waters. Fortunately, an arbiter came forward in the garb of the World Bank that eventually succeeded in thrashing out a settlement.
About Indus Water Treaty
The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is a water sharing arrangement, signed in Karachi on September 19, 1960, by then Prime Minster Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan's President General Ayub Khan. The World Bank (the erstwhile international bank for reconstruction and development) brokered the treaty and is also a party to it. The Indus system of rivers comprises three western rivers which includes the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab and three eastern rivers — the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi. Under the treaty, India has exclusive rights on the eastern rivers and their tributaries while Pakistan has exclusive rights on the western rivers. Pakistan also received a one-time financial compensation for the loss of water from the eastern rivers and to build a new canal system. The waters of the Indus basin begin in the Himalayan mountains in the region under China. The river flows from the hills through the arid and dry states of Punjab and Sindh, converging in Pakistan, and empties out in the Arabian Sea, south of Karachi.
Can the treaty be revised or modified?
There is a provision for mediation and arbitration by a neutral umpire in case of any disagreement. The IWT has, so far, been implemented by both the countries faithfully. It has not gone for any modification till date, even though Article-XII of the IWT allows for any kind of modification when both parties agree. The current tensions between the two sides might, however, lead to a flashpoint.
Bad bargaining chip for India
India is a lower riparian state Pakistan’s all weather ally China is the upper riparian state in the Brahmaputra, a river which flows into India’s northeast. Making any precedent in which an upper riparian state is overbearing can give hints to Beijing on the water-sharing issue which doesn’t augur well for India. And in any conflict situation, Beijing siding with its close friend is a forgone conclusion.
Kashmir issue Any tampering with the pact would give Pakistan another propaganda to link it with Kashmir issue, which will further complicate the situation.
Pakistan won’t mend ways Any punitive measure from India such as turning off the Indus tap or tampering with the pact will be fodder for Pakistan to whip up anti-India feelings among people. India needs to think beyond such measures to make Pakistan see reason. As a mature country with a robust market and strong institutions, India has many other ways to put across its point.
Spillover impacts India is a part of three of the seven water-sharing pacts between countries in the region — the Ganges treaty with Bangladesh that took 20 years to hammer out, the Indus water treaty with Pakistan and the Gandak treaty with Nepal. Unlike Indus, Teesta water sharing agreement of 2011 envisages a 50:50 water-sharing formula for the water of the river that is crucial to both north Bengal and the northwestern districts of Bangladesh. The pact has not been signed yet. It is better not to create bad precedents on water-sharing pacts when arriving at such pacts is becoming an increasingly onerous task.
Infrastructure: Those who talk of diversion of the Indus waters do not realise that it would require storage dams and diversion canal network on a large scale and that it figures nowhere in the existing Indian water plans.
Security Issue: Any discord over the sharing of the Indus waters has grave consequences for security and stability in South Asia.
Conclusion:
The IWT(Indus water treaty) was meant to reduce hostilities between India and Pakistan, but the water discourse is now intensely politicised in both countries. In fact, it is now being used by various actors in the two countries to whip up hatred against each other. Due to conflicting interests, hawks in both countries publicly demand scrapping the treaty, without realising the side effects or the rationality of their demand. There is need to rebuild cooperation and remove distrust and synergise common concerns on the sharing of Indus waters within the scope of the treaty and outside it through mutual agreement
By: Vishal ProfileResourcesReport error
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