Daily Times

A report titled ‘India resists World Bank move to resolve Indus Water Treaty dispute’ authored by Zofeen T. Ebrahim and Joydeep Gupta was carried by a national English daily, which originally appeared on the website of The Third Pole. It stated: “India has asked the World Bank not to rush in to resolve a dispute with Pakistan over the Kishanganga and Ratle hydropower projects. Indian officials told a World Bank representative in New Delhi on 5th January2017 that “any differences over the projects can be resolved bilaterally or through a neutral expert.” Pakistan is averse to the appointment of neutral expert, as it takes only technical aspect into consideration. Pakistan therefore approached the World Bank — the designated IWT mediator and a guarantor — to adjudicate the case in the Court of Arbitration, as it takes into consideration legal as well as technical aspects.

Syed Jamaat Ali Shah, former Indus Water Commissioner on behalf of the Pakistani government, told thethirdpole.net that since the Kishanganga project has been going on for years, the inordinate delay by Islamabad to approach the World Bank would give India more time to complete its projects. He was of the view that the Pakistani side had put forward a request to the court of arbitration without doing its homework. The noted economist Kaiser Bengali without taking Jamaat Ali Shah’s name told thethirdpole.net that “Pakistan’s chief negotiator for more than a decade and a half had limited intellectual capacity to lead on such a strategically life and death issue.” Jamaat Ali Shah had drawn flak for his lackadaisicalness and ineptness during his long stint. Surprisingly, inquiry officer cleared him stating that he had performed his duties appropriately, and had not caused any national loss.

Of course, Syed Jamaat Ali Shah had objected to the design of the project as being against the provisions of the IWT, but he was accused of not taking timely action. Military Intelligence (MI) Directorate had informed the government on 6th June, 2005 that India was planning to construct the Nimoo-Bazgo hydroelectric project. The most alarming aspect of the report was that the PCIW team never visited the project before and during the construction period of the project. And only after the project had been completed, he started using all avenues, but was too late. The report also divulged that ISI had informed the government on 25th July, 2005 that the then Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh visited Leh, Kargil and Siachen Glacier on June 11, 2005 and laid the foundation stone of Nimoo-Bazgo and Chutak hydroelectric power plants.

The report had also revealed that the PCIW headed by Syed Jamaat Ali Shah remained silent during 2007, 2008, 2009 about the project. Anyhow, India is resorting to devious methods since it has completed some mega projects on River Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. India continues building dams on Pakistan’s rivers, and its projects are of a size and scope that many Pakistanis fear could be used to disrupt their hydropower efforts as well as the timing of the flows on which Pakistani crops rely. India has to understand that it is also a lower riparian state, as three rivers namely Sutlej, Indus and Brahamputra (in China its name is Tsangpo) from China to India. If India threatens Pakistan of withdrawing from Indus Water Treaty or violates its stipulations and provisions, China the upper riparian state could also impact water flows into the lower riparian countries like India.

The Lalho project on Xiabuqu River in Tibet, a tributary of Yarlung Zangbo (Brahmaputra) involves an investment of $740 million. The construction began in June 2014, and was scheduled to be completed in 2019.It is not clear yet what impact the blockade of the river will have on the flow of water from the Brahmaputra in the lower riparian countries like India and Bangladesh. In 2015, China had operationalised the $1.5 billion Zam Hydropower Station, the largest in Tibet, built on the Brahmaputra River, which had raised concerns in India. But China has been maintaining that it has taken into consideration India’s concerns and allayed apprehensions of restricting the flow of water, saying its dams are ‘run of the river’ projects not designed to hold water. On the other hand, India persistently shrugged off Pakistan’s reservations about the projects on western rivers.

In December 2016, Commissioner for Indus Waters Mirza Asif Baig said: “We have received a letter from the World Bank that has halted the process of the court of arbitration, as was requested earlier by Pakistan. Instead it has asked both governments to resolve the dispute bilaterally.” One does not have to be an agricultural scientist to know that water is life as one can live without food for months but cannot live without water for days or weeks. Water is indispensable to agriculture, as it is a critical input into agriculture of a country especially when it is situated in an arid or semi-arid zone. Loss of storage capacity due to sedimentation in Tarbela and Mangla Dams is causing serious drop even for existing agricultural production. Food shortages and energy shortfall has already blighted Pakistan with the result that industry in all the provinces has also been adversely impacted.

Water issue between India and Pakistan is a serious matter and needs attention of the policy makers, as India is trying to use water as a weapon against Pakistan. India is resorting to devious methods since it has completed some mega projects on River Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. India continues building dams on Pakistan’s rivers, and its projects are of a size and scope that many Pakistanis fear could be used to disrupt their hydropower efforts as well as the timing of the flows on which Pakistani crops rely. In this context a comprehensive report published by English daily last year presented an extremely depressing state of affairs for Pakistan, as India usurps Pakistani share of water. India openly violated Indus Water Treaty showing utter disregard to the rights of Pakistan. Of course, Pakistan’s water administration also failed to pursue the matter diligently with the result that India benefited from UN mediators’ verdicts.

The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at mjamil1938@hotmail.com