Pak Tea House » Pakistan » Water: India Still Blackmailing Pakistan
Water: India Still Blackmailing Pakistan
Sajjad Shaukat
India leaves no stone unturned in blackmailing Pakistan by manipulating any crisis or dispute either it is of permanent or temporary nature. For example, by showing self-fabricated evidence, full of loopholes, India has broken all the previous record in blackmailing Pakistan in the aftermath of the November 26 Mumbai carnage. Although New Delhi has re-started dialogue with Islamabad, yet it has still been insisting on the latter to show progress over the culprits of Mumbai terror-events as pre-condition to talk on other issues of the composite dialogue. On the other hand, Pakistan’s rulers have been repeatedly emphasizing Indian leadership to produce solid information in this regard.
Apart from other permanent issues including the thorny dispute of Kashmir which have always been used by India to blackmail Pakistan, water of rivers has become a matter of life and death for every Pakistani as New Delhi has continuously been employing it as a tool of blackmailing. Recently, Indian decision to construct two hydro-electric projects on River Neelam which is called Krishanganga in Indian dialect is a new violation of the Indus Basin Water Treaty, signed in 1960 between Pakistan and India. The World Bank, itself, is the mediator and signatory for the treaty. As regards the background of the treaty, notably, after partition, India went to war against Pakistan for the illegitimate occupation of Kashmir which continued in one form or the other from October 1947 until January 1949. Owing to war-like situation, New Delhi deliberately stopped the flow of Pakistan’s rivers which originate from the Indian-held Kashmir. Even at that time, Indian rulers had used water as a tool of political blackmailing against Pakistan. However, due to Indian illogical stand, Islamabad sought the help of international arbitration. The treaty allocates waters of three western rivers of Indus, Jhelum and Chenab to Pakistan, while India has rights over eastern rivers of Ravi, Sutlej and Beas.
Since the settlement of the dispute, India has always violated the treaty intermittently to create economic crisis in Pakistan. In 1984 a controversy arose between the two neighbouring states after India began construction of the Wullar Barrage on river Jhelum in the occupied Kashmir. New Delhi halted construction work in 1987 after Pakistan lodged a strong protest over the project, stating it violated the Indus Water Treaty. In the past, the issue of Wullar Barrage has also been discussed in various rounds of talks, being held under composite dialogue process between the two rivals, but Indian intransigence continues. In the mid 1990s India started another violation by constructing the Baglihar dam on the Chenab river. In 2005, Pakistan had again sought the World Bank’s help to stop construction of the Baglihar dam. Although WB allowed India to go ahead with the project after a few modifications, yet it did not permit the interruption of the agreed quota of water flow to Pakistan.
Last years, India suddenly reduced water flow of the Chenab river to give a greater setback to our autumnal crops. Islamabad on September 17, 2008 threatened to seek the World Bank’s intervention on the plea that New Delhi had not responded to its repeated complaints on the issue appropriately. Pakistan’s Commissioner to the treaty, Syed Jamaat Ali Shah had also remarked that the shortage of water in the Chenab river, occurred due to filling up the Baglihar dam. In addition, he elaborated that despite repeated pleas from Islamabad, India did nothing to address the problem.
During water-dispute negotiations between India and Pakistan last year, the former had intended to settle the issue by paying off in terms of water or money for the outage it had caused to Pakistan. But Pakistan’s Secretary Water and Power, Ismail Qureshi had made it clear on September 17, 2009 that compensation even in these terms was not the solution to the unjust done to Pakistan which had already suffered huge losses owing to Indian sudden suspension of water.
Nevertheless, apart from intermittent violations of the Indus Water Treaty by construction of the Krishanganga project over Neelam River, New Delhi, in fact, has been using water as a tool to pressurise Islamabad with a view to getting leverage in the composite dialogue especially regarding Indian-held Kashmir where a new phase of protests and state terrorism has started, and where people have intensified their struggle for liberation. Indian diplomacy of employing water as a tool of blackmailing could also be judged from a latest development. Reports suggest that India has secretly offered technical assistance to the Afghan government in order to construct a dam over Kabul River which is a main water contributor to Indus River.
It is of particular attention that by applying such a shrewd diplomacy of water, New Delhi intends to fulfil a number of nefarious designs against Pakistan. India wants to keep her control on Kashmir which is located in the Indus River basin area which contributes to the flow of all the major rivers, entering Pakistan. It is determined to bring about political, economic and social problems of grave nature in Pakistan. As regards the Indian clandestine aims, in this respect, a report, published in the “New Scientist” in 2005 pointed out a number of issues in relation to Pakistan by writing: “Violation of the Indus Basin Treaty could lead to widespread famine, and further inflame the ongoing conflict over Kashmir. Pakistan relies on the Indus river and its tributaries for almost half of its irrigation supplies, and to generate up to half of its electricity. Pakistan also fears that India would use various dams as a coercive tool by causing floods in Pakistan through sudden release of dam waters.” In this context, China Daily News Group wrote in 2005: “Another added complication is that in building a dam upstream of Pakistan, India will possess the ability to flood or starve Pakistan at will. This ability was witnessed in July of 2004 when India, without warning, released water into the Chenab river, flooding large portions of Pakistan. The history of conflict between these two nations makes it possible for New Delhi to use nature as a real weapon against Islamabad.” According to an estimate, unlike India, Pakistan is highly dependent on agriculture, which in turn is dependent on water. Of the 79.6 million hectares of land that makeup Pakistan, 20 million are available for agriculture. Of those 20 million hectares, 16 million are dependent on irrigation. So, almost 80% of Pakistan’s agriculture is dependent on irrigation.
It is notable that many of Pakistan’s industries are agro-based such as the textiles industry. Besides, 80% of Pakistan’s food needs are fulfilled domestically. Thus an interruption of water supply would have broad-ranging effects. For example, when the country suffered a drought from 1998 to 2001, there were violent riots in Karachi. As already mentioned that half of Pakistan’s energy comes from hydroelectricity, and at present, our country has been facing a severe crisis of loadshedding which is the result of power-shortage in the country. Recently, people in a number of cities like Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad etc. lodged violent protests against the loadshedding, culminating into loss of property and life.
While Pakistan has already been facing multiple challenges of grave nature coupled with a continued phenomenon of terrorism like suicide attacks, bomblasts etc., committed by the militants who enter our country from Afghanistan where Indian secret intelligence agency, RAW has established training centres for anti-Pakistan activities—New Delhi also uses water as a tool by increasing its scarcity, making life too often miserable for Pakistanis with the unlitmate aim of creating poverty which could produce more terrorism in turn. And is likely to deepen differences among Pakistan’s provinces over various issues which are directly or indirectly related to water. So, still by employing water as an instrument of blackmailing, Indians continue to intensify political unrest, economic instability and social strife in Pakistan.
Courtesy Pakistan Observer
The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect PTH’s positions.
Filed under: Pakistan · Tags: crisis of water, Dispute, India, Indus Water Treaty, Islamabad, Kashmir, new delhi, Pakistan, Pakistan-India, Water as a tool in diplomacy, Water Wars
23 Responses to "Water: India Still Blackmailing Pakistan"
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The world is a place for ” tit-for-tat” and “give and take”.
There is no free lunch.
India should show some mercy. Pakistan is begging and crawling. In this scenario, India should stop blaming her. Her concerns about water issues, her fights with Taliban, her internal digestive problems, her acrimonious disputes among the provinces should all make Indians sympathetic towards her.
Can the two separted brothers (or sisters, if you like) stop fighting and become united!?
@ Whatever,
Separated brothers, are you on opium ?
Read history books, and you will find that the invaders, plunderers that killed and converted by the sword in India, are worshiped as heroes in Pakistan.
There is no compatability of cultural heritage and values between the two.
Sajjad mian,
You are spreading disinformation.
Although WB allowed India to go ahead with the project after a few modifications, yet it did not permit the interruption of the agreed quota of water flow to Pakistan.
As far as Baglihar is concerned, it is a run of the river project, it does not have any significant storage capacity so the question of any interruption does not arise. The WB required India to reduce the height of the dam by a few metres, that is all.
Last years, India suddenly reduced water flow of the Chenab river to give a greater setback to our autumnal crops.
Again, India does not have any significant storage capacity on the River Chenab so India shutting off the river doesnt seem plausible at all. What is happening is that the glaciers of NW Himalayas have been receeding and the snowfall and rains in this region has reduced a fair bit over the past few years and this is affecting waterflow. Indian unkindness has nothing to do with it.
Regards
Majumdar: You are full of you know what.
Baglihar is a reservoir created by placing a dam on a river to store water. How do you store water in a reservoir? By blocking the free flow of river water. Any time a river is blocked the water that is suppose to flow freely is denied to the users down stream. India has a history of stealing what rightfully belongs to others. Baglihar is just another chapter of Indian Grand Theft. Next India-Pakistan war may not be over land of Kashmir. It may well be over water. Mark my words.
“The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect PTH’s positions.”
So what is exactly the position of PTH on the subject of Indian Theft of Pakistan’s river rights?
@whatever,
I have pakhtun blood running in my veins(inspite of being a non muslim) and i want to be a resident of the sexy city of lahore(inspite of being a jingoistic indian)
Can the two separted(sic) brothers (or sisters, if you like) stop fighting and become united!?
May that happen in our lifetime….. Inshallah!
Does anybody has stats on storage capacity. Water is a very serious issue and if India does not back off, then Pakistan has the right demolish these dams, even if it means war. Let this be a warning.
PMA sb,
I dont know what I am full of but your mind sadly is completely empty. Obviously you have never heard of something called a “run of the river project with limited pondage” which is what the Baglihar dam is . The dam has been cleared with the WB stipulating that the height be reduced by a couple of metres which in turn means that the storage capacity of the dam be reduced from 37 million cu metres to 33 million cu metres. Now before you start jumping up and down at “33 million cu metres”, I would like to point out that Bhakra, Tarbela and Mangla are each having a capacity of more than 7 billion cu metres . What this means is that all that India can do is to stop water flow for a few hours at best.
Regards
“Pakistan has the right demolish these dams”
Punching above your size! for 62 years you have done this, the begging bowl has gotten bigger and deeper. Your budget is getting drafted in Washington DC and Brussels.
If you “demolish” these dams what do you think India will be doing? huh?
Majumdar: Call it reservoir, call it pond. It is still a mechanism to stop the free flow of river waters at will. That is what dams are for. To control the free flow of water. The water that rightfully belongs to India’s neighbors. May be in your eyes theft of one bushel is a lesser crime than theft of ten bushels. But theft is a theft no matter how large or small. And on top of that India is making these illegal changes on the ground inside a disputed territory. This is akin to Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands. Someone on this board has expressed a desire “to be a resident of the sexy city of Lahore”. That gentleman does not know that Lahore, thanks to his country India, is a waterless city now. River Ravi, the source of lush green historical gardens of Lahore is nothing more than a silt bed now. If not fed by a canal from River Chenab the lands around Lahore would be nothing but a dust bowl. Now India has started to monkey around with the other two upper rivers, Chenab and Jhelum and their tributaries as well. These rivers are life line of Pakistan. There is only so much a victim of international aggression can bear. Eventually Pakistan will have to go to war with India over her water rights.
PMA sb,
The water that India can store on Baglihar is barely a few hours or so of waterflow and the whole purpose of that is to meet the peaking load, that is all. There is no diversion whatsoever of the water (“steal” to use your terminology) that is being stored nor does the flow pattern get disturbed by anything more than a few hours. India’s right to construct it has been upheld by international bodies including World Bank. Why have they upheld India’s right to steal water?
As far as River Ravi is concerned, Pakistan has itself signed off all of its water to India, so why blame India if the river has been reduced to a drain.
Regards
PMA sb,
I have a suspicion that whatever facts I will quote are irrelevant really. You have already made up your mind.
Regards
Majumdar: Now you are getting into ‘diversion’ vs. ‘storage’. You tell me that I carry an empty head on my shoulders, but why it does not get into your head that by treaty India is not suppose to manipulate the ‘free flow of water’ of the upper three rivers of the Indus Basin. We are speaking of the principle here while you and your fellow Indians dance around the amount and duration of water flow inhibited by India. If you do not see that a drop of water stored in an upstream dam by India is a drop of water denied to downstream user Pakistan when needed then I pity you for your blind folds. But being an Indian you will believe what suits you. And before this argument gets circular, I will leave you alone. See you on next post.
The people who want more dams to generate electricity upstream are Kashmiri Indians. Not Marati Indians or Gujarati Indians.
This is called Kashmiriyat (sans Hindus Pandits, whom they have killed or expelled to Delhi and other parts of their country).
These Kashmiri Indians practice Islam. Islamic principles dictate the water belongs to them.
This puts the Punjabi Muslims and Sindhi Muslims at a disadvantage (note Hindus killed or expelled from these areas too).
This is somewhat similar to the rest of the water disputes in India. One key difference in other parts of India is it is a secular fight.
For example Marati Hindus and Muslims fight over water with Telugu Hindus and Muslims.
Punajbi Muslims don’t know these things, because …again..they have expelled and exterminated all Hindus.
non-Kashmiri Indian: First of all, Kashmiris do not consider themselves as Indians and would have hard time relating to any of Marhati or Gujrati issues. So you are wrong there. Second, these dams are illegally built by India. So the water rights dispute is between Pakistan and India. This is not a religious or an ethnic issue. It is an international issue and is not “similar to the rest of the water disputes in India”, as you put it. Indian states may fight but will not go to war with each other over the water issue, while India and Pakistan would. Therefore it is a very serious international issue.
I assume you are saying you will wage war on the water issue and ignore realities as posted by Majumdar.
In which case all Indians including the Kashmiri Indians are ready for it!
Every day is a Direct Action Day for you!! Even when you are crawling you talk of direct action.
non-Kashmiri Indian: If by “you” you mean India and Pakistan, yes it is plausible that one day these two countries may go to war over the issue of water rights.
There is a kind of hysteria building up over the river waters. The discussion should be technical.
The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) allows India to build run of the river dams (ROR). These dams are allowed to fill up initially any time between 21st July and 31st August. Baglihar was filled up in this period in 2008. Pakistan’s contention is that India continued filling some time into September. It is inaccurate to say so because the data do not support it. 2008 was a low rainfall year.
The IWT only stipulates that all the water flowing into a dam in the three western river allotted to Pakistan(Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) in any 24 hour period must be allowed to flow out. There has been no deviation from this principle, nor has Pakistan shown one.
Kishenganga is a separate matter. The IWT allows India unrestricted right to construct storage dams on tributaries of rivers allotted to Pakistan. The Kishenganga is a tributary of the Jhelum. Both India and Pakistan have plans to build dams on this river which joins the Jhelum just below Muzzaffarabad. However if India builds its dam first Pakistan will not be able to create its diversion project called the Neelam Jhelum link. Even so all this Kishenganga water will still flow to Pakistan because the Indian project diverts the Kishenganga water to the Jhelum through the Wular lake and that water then flows to Pakistan though Uri. There is no consumptiver use of water here either.
The Wular Navigation Project (Tulbul project was stopped by Pakistan 20 years ago and work has not resumed, so why complain.
May I suggest to agitated readers from Pakistan that floods in Pakistan from Chenab and Jhelum will be mitigated by upstream regulation. This means that if storage dams are allowed then both nations benefit. We produce more power than we can now, and your floods are more controllable because surplus water is stored not only in your own dams but also in dams in India. Without upstream regulation heavy rains upstream in the monsoon months as in 1988 and 1992 lead to immediate flow into Pakistan, and your own dams cant hold all the water.
With respect, Ravi is allowed to India. The Ravi, Beas and Sutlej are all dry now, and it is only in flood situations that the Bhakra Beas, and Ranjit Sagar dams are forced to release the overflow.
to paraphrase an old Croat saying.. You can dine with an Indian, you can talk with a inidan but you can never EVER turn your back on an indian..
Bangladesh team to visit dam site
By Mark Dummett
BBC News, Dhaka
A delegation of Bangladeshi parliamentarians has arrived in north-east India to examine plans to build a hydroelectric dam.
Many Bangladeshis worry that, if built, the Tipaimukh dam in the state of Manipur will reduce water flowing into its own north-eastern region.
Work on building the dam has not yet started.
But this is already a sensitive issue in Bangladesh, a country normally associated with having too much water.
The leader of the main opposition party in Bangladesh has called on India to cancel the project for the sake of the millions of people in both countries, who she said would be harmed by it.
There have been several street protests as well, by those who say that two rivers, which pass through Bangladesh’s Sylhet region, could dry up if the dam is built.
They have compared the proposals to the Farakka Barrage, which India built in the 1970s on the Ganges to divert water away from Bangladesh.
Despite a later agreement between the two countries to share water, Bangladesh’s north-western regions continue to suffer from shortages in the winter months.
After meeting officials in Delhi, the Bangladeshi parliamentarians will travel to Manipur to visit the site of the proposed dam.
They are to examine whether Bangladesh really does have something to fear.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Hi,
Quoting “theft of Pakistan river” is wrong. Its the water from India and treaty between two country can be withdrawn from any side check (USA and Russia Anti Missile Treaty) which USA on it own withdrawn from that treaty without consulting with russia and started Anti Missile Test.
Go and check Malaysia and Singapore water sharing. Singapore pay $$$ for every bit of water entering from Malaysia to Singapore but you people getting free of cost. I am Indian i don’t hate Pakistani but have one question if your country see India as enemy why should India need to give you water for free of cost.
“Islamabad on September 17, 2008 threatened to seek the World Bank’s intervention on the plea that New Delhi had not responded to its repeated complaints on the issue appropriately.”
And also World Bank is don’t have Authority to command India in fact they can’t command any country for that case. They can only act as Neutral party if and only if two parties to the dispute accept world bank as Dispute resolver. So if either India or Pakistan don’t want to accept World Bank as a Arbitrator, then they can’t do any thing.
“On the other hand, Pakistan’s rulers have been repeatedly emphasizing Indian leadership to produce solid information in this regard.”
Friend every one know who is the culprit in Mumbai case, even a child in Pakistan know who did that. If Pakistan Government want they sack Judges and if they want they can revoke court judgment to dismiss Punjab Government. But say all proof that India gave is not sufficient. LOL
India Pledging 2 stop terror that u people sry (your Government) not listening and you except India to listen to your request and what a logic it is. I am sure if a Indian is in death bed and asking you please give me a glass of water, most (not all some good hearts are there) of you say ” you dirty Hindu i can’t give u a drop of water” even though the person may be Muslim from India you people label him as “Hindu”. But you getting free water that enriching most part of your country still you people blaming Indians that we are cheating you.
ou said India use this to create economic crisis in Pakistan but first of all since India allows water on mercy basis and mutual understanding only no international organization can ask India to give its natural resources Free of cost to other country. Most of the Indian are looking only peace with other country and want to solve dispute but in Pakistan political party use India in every election to win seats.
Friends look this from a third party view. And see neutral content like Wikipedia instead of believing Pakistan textbooks.