VIOLATIONS of Indus Basin Water Treaty by India is assuming alarming
dimensions and the situation calls for urgent measures to safeguard
crucial interests of the country. A report prepared by the Engineers
Study Forum has revealed that India is stealing 15-20% of water from
Western rivers causing $12 billion losses to the agriculture of Pakistan
annually.
The report throws light only on one aspect of the Indian strategies to
inflict damage on Pakistan. Apart from the losses to its economy on
account of stoppage of its share of water, India is also causing huge
invisible losses to Pakistan because of its crude interference in the
internal affairs of the country. It is harbouring terrorism and acts of
sabotage in Balochistan and FATA and has always adopted a hostile
posture towards Pakistan forcing it to spend more on law and order,
security and defence of the country. However, coming back to the water
issue, the Indus Water Commissioner of Pakistan has stated the other day
that Pakistan would take up the issue of reduced inflows in Jhelum and
Chenab with the visiting Indian delegation that is here for inspection
of water projects. It is understood that the visit is not strictly aimed
at holding negotiations on this serious issue as it is of routine nature
to inspect water site, yet the issue needs to be addressed seriously as
reduced flow of water has already triggered a row between Punjab and
Sindh because of less availability of water for the current crop. India
is constructing a number of water reservoirs both on Chenab and Jhelum
and it is feared that after their completion it would be in a position
to stop every drop of water, turning Pakistan’s fertile lands into
barren deserts. We would, therefore, support demand of the Engineers’
Forum that the Government should not only lodge a claim with the United
Nations, World Bank and International Court of Justice of billions of
dollars in terms of loss caused to the agriculture of the country but
also initiate legal and diplomatic offensive to safeguard our water
rights.
