ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power was told on Thursday that the World Bank (WB) was not a guarantor of the Indus Water Treaty, but according to Article 9 of the agreement, Pakistan could move the court in case the accord was breached.
A special meeting of the committee was held at the Parliament House – with Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan in the chair – in which Indus Water Commission Additional Commissioner Shiraz Memon gave a briefing to the committee members. He said that some 90 million acre-foot (MAF) of water flows through Indus River every year, but India could only use 9,000 acre-foot of water.
About Chenab River, he said that the flow of water was 20.25 MAF, while India could only use 94,000 MAF. However, he said that India could create problems for Pakistan by making a dam on it in the future.
Shiraz Memon said there was a conflict between India and Pakistan over seven controversial water projects. He said that India was working on projects to generate 2,800 megawatts of power, which would adversely affect the flow of Jhelum River where 25 MAF water flows annually. He told the committee that Pakistan had contacted international guarantors on Ratle and Kishanganga hydroelectric plants.
State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali said that the nation should first show consensus on construction of water reservoirs by keeping aside their internal differences.
He informed the committee that the next few years would be tough for Pakistan with regard to water crisis. “ If we fail to take appropriate measures for storing water at this time, the coming generations will never pardon us,” he added.
Senator Taj Haider said on the occasion that India could store 2.8 MAF water. He said that Pakistan and Afghanistan had no agreement on the use of water, so Afghanistan could also stop water from Kabul River and Chitral River and create problems for Pakistan. He also informed the committee members that India was supporting Afghanistan for making dams.
On this, the state minister said that Pakistan had raised the issue with Afghanistan through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for inking an agreement on Kabul River.
Indus River System Authority (IRSA) Chairman Rao Irshad Ali said that the flow of Kabul River is 22 MAF, of which only 6 MAF comes from Afghanistan, while the remaining water was added to it in Pakistan’s territory.
Demanding construction of small dams, Senator Aajiz Dhamra said that mangrove forests were being destroyed due to wastage of sweet water.
Meanwhile, a Foreign Ministry representative told the committee that India had not formally conveyed to Pakistan that its water was being blocked. “Such threats have appeared only in newspapers,” he added.