Daily Times

Disagreements over how to best solve Pakistan’s water scarcity issues came to a head on Thursday when federal minister for Water Resources,Javed Shah, called the opponents of the Kalabagh dam “Indian agents”. The Sindh Assembly responded by expressing it’s outrage over the accusation and demanded that the federal minister apologize for his “mischievous move” which hurt the sentiments of the people of Sindh and other provinces that have reservations about the dam.

Debates about Kalabagh Dam have always been mired in politics and distrust between Punjab and smaller provinces.Whenever Kalabagh Dam is proposed as the solution to Pakistan’s water and energy problems, smaller provinces especially Sindh and KPproject the dam as a Punjabi conspiracy to steal theirwater.

Punjab and Sindh’s water disputes go back all the way to the 1870s when Punjab started constructing irrigation infrastructure on the Indus river. This was followed by a series of accords and agreements regarding water distribution between Punjab and Sindh, the first of which was the 1901-1903 India Irrigation Commission which gave Sindh priority to access to the Indus river’s water.The final agreement under the colonial government was reached in 1945, which also held Sindh’s right to the Indus river superior to Punjab’s.

Today Sindh is losing water even if it manages to keep Punjab’s hands off the Indus. Desertification is a major issue in Sindh. Additionally, a report submitted before the Sindh High Court in July 2017 revealed that 77 percent of the water in 14 Sindhi districts was unfit for human consumption.

The situation is the same all over Pakistan. In December 2013, the World Resources Institute ranked Pakistan among the 36 most water stressed countries in the world. Earlier this month, the Indus River System Authority (which supports-Kalabagh dam) told the Senate Forum for Policy Research that Pakistan dumps water worth $21 billion into the sea every year due to a lack of water conservation systems. The country’s agriculture remains dependant on an outdated irrigation system,as well as over reliant on water intensive crops like rice and sugar cane. It is predicted that by 2050, there will only be 482 cubic meters of potablewater for every person in the country.

The time to fix Pakistan’s water issues is now. It will be too late if serious action is delayed any longer. The first step in this regard would be to form a coherent national water policy, which is still lacking. Furthermore, Punjab must find a way to play fairly with other provinces and vice versa so that there can be an end to petty squabbling and serious progress can be made.  *

Published in Daily Times, November 12^th 2017.