When the British divided India in 1947, two sovereign states emerged in
the form of India and Pakistan. The division was made primarily on the
basis of contiguous Hindu and Muslim majority areas. One exception was
however sinisterly made by the British Boundary Commission when it
awarded Gurdaspur District, originally planned to be allocated to
Pakistan on the basis of its Muslim majority, to India.
The willful strategic folly committed by the then British Boundary
Commission at the behest of Hindu pressure resulted in a perpetual
dispute over Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Secondly, the Boundary
Commission failed to comprehend the importance of river resources and
their distributaries while partitioning the Indian Sub-Continent wherein
the major controls of Indus water system essentially fell within the
Indian dominion.
As such, soon after the division, the Indians started squeezing the
waters flowing downstream into Pakistan and opened new controversies and
tensions between the two countries. The effects of these tensions over
the water flows were also felt world wide and in 1951 World Bank stepped
in to diffuse the situation. The intervention by the World Bank
ultimately resulted in the culmination of an agreement between India and
Pakistan in 1960 to be referred to as Indus Water Treaty. The Indus
Water Treaty grants complete rights over Eastern Rivers (Ravi, Sutlej
and Beas) to India whereas Pakistan was granted with the rights on
Western Rivers Jhelum and Chenab with some specific provisions under
which India too could use the water of these two rivers.
The provisions included usage of these waters for domestic uses, non
consumptive uses, limited agricultural uses, generation of hydroelectric
power through run of rivers projects and storage to a limited extent.
The mechanism to ensure that none of the two states violate provisions
of the Treaty, appointment of Commissioners from either side was
institutionalized. The Commissions thus formed are presently confronted
with disputes over river water usages by India over Wullar Barrage,
Baglihar Hydroelectric Plant and Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant and
none of these have been resolved as yet.
To delve on these outstanding water issues briefly, the Wullar Barrage
Project is located on Jhelum Main River. The Project implicates
artificial raising of water in Jhelum Main which does not go along with
the provisions of the Treaty, Pakistan objected to the design of the
Barrage. The matter was taken up by the respective Commissioners who
failed to resolve the issue and as such the dispute was taken up at the
Government level for its resolution. The matter remains pending due to
Indian refusal to restart the composite level dialogue with Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the work on the project remains suspended since 1987.
Sequel to the failure in resolving the Wullar Barrage issue, another
controversial Project was initiated by India with regard to water
distribution named as Baglihar Hydroelectric power project on River
Chenab. After the respective |Commissioners and later the governments
failed to resolve the issue, the dispute was referred to the World Bank
for appointing a neutral expert to intervene. The neutral expert so
appointed by the World Bank upheld Pakistan’s objections on free board,
the project’s pondage and level of water intake. However, his
determination regarding spill way, allowing India to draw down the water
level in pond for flushing surpassed not only his given mandate but also
violates the Indus Water Treaty. By overstepping the mandate given to
the neutral expert he not only supported India but also provided
Pakistan an alibi to take up the matter to a court of Arbitration.
The third water related issue is of Kishanganga Project which like the
other two disputes failed to yield any results through bilateralism.
Pakistan has now been forced to approach World Bank for appointment of a
neutral expert to resolve this sensitive issue as well. India planned to
divert water of Neelum River with its attendant shortfall of water in
the river to foil Pakistani plans to construct Neelum-Jhelum Hydro
Electric Project (N-JHEP), of which India was informed in 1988. Pakistan
has already awarded contract worth $1.5 Bn to a Chinese Consortium for
completion of the Project. The subsequent Indian plan divulged to
Pakistan in 1994 of diverting the flow of Neelum River clearly violates
Indus Water Treaty provisions, especially Article III and IV that
specifically prelude such contingencies. Despite the fact that Pakistan
has raised objections on Kishanganga Project, the plans to divert River
Neelum’s water to construct the 330 MW Kishanganga power project near
Wullar Lake are going ahead. The Indian move to starve Neelum valley of
water, would cause environmental disaster for the valley besides severe
repercussions on the agriculture sector of Azad Kashmir. The most
adverse affect of the Indian plan of altering the original course of
River Neelum Water would drastically affect Pakistani planned project
“N-JHEP’ on River Neelum to generate electricity.
It is a pity that the Indus Water Treaty that was shaped to act as a
role model to interact and resolve conflicts bilaterally in the context
of India and Pakistan water issues, was not adopted as such in latter
and spirit to resolve many other conflicts mainly due to the lack of
sincerity and political considerations. Though the Treaty did survive
two major wars between India and Pakistan yet, it no longer guarantees
that India would not hesitate any more to subvert the spirit of the
Treaty and engage in exploitation of Indus Water System Rivers to its
total advantage.
