Indus Water Treaty - Kashmir Issue and their contemporary complications
In this blog, we will be discussing
about the important aspects of the Indus Water Treaty, 1960. What led to its
formation, who was benefited and what is its contemporary validity?
Brief History of Kashmir
Pearl S Buck: "If you want to
understand today, you have to search yesterday."
The issue of Kashmir between India and
Pakistan is not primarily for land, but rather a water. Pakistan’s more than
85% of the water flows from India, which is actually a big reason for concern
for them. Therefore, soon after the Independence in 1947 both the nation’s
tried hard to take over the Kashmir. But Kashmir, which was a princely state in
British Raj, wanted to be an independent state. Pakistan on 22
Pakistan wanted to send its troops to
Kashmir to capture it, but at that time both India and Pakistan’s army
commander was Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck and Britain did not want to
start a war between its own army from both the sides. And hence the war ended.
Sardar Vallabhai Patel wanted to recapture the illegal occupied PoK back, but
it was Jawaharlal Nehru who didn’t wanted war but suggested to have peace talks
with Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
1st official meeting on Kashmir
Issue between India and Pakistan
Nehru and Mountbatten wanted to visit Lahore to
peacefully resolve this Kashmir issue, but Patel was against this visit. Patel
has the opinion that it was Pakistan who started this war and therefore, they
should come to Delhi for peace talks. Due to Nehru’s poor health, only
Mountbatten went to Lahore for discussion and where Jinnah made it clear that
it was India who by deceitful means captured Kashmir and Pakistan will never
agree to this. Nehru wanted to involve 3
Till date, PoK is shown in India as an international
boundary. It was in 1971, after Bangladesh was made the independent country and
that the defeated country’s PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto came for Shimla Agreement
but, on India’s suggestion, Pakistan refused to announce LOC as International
Boundary. And experts say that it was because if Pakistan declares LOC as
International boundary then they would not able to keep the Kashmir issue
alive, no ceasefire violation or infiltration would be possible, and they
cannot claim Kashmir ever.
There were other conditions as well which India had
to fulfil
1. Privy
Purse: A heavy pension was given by the Indian government to the Royal Families
as an incentive to join India. but it was later in 1971, under 26
2. Special Status: Kashmir state was also provided
with the autonomy to draft its own constitution through its separate
constituent assembly. Article 370 was incorporated in Indian constitution
temporarily to accommodate above features.
Indus Water Treaty
Initially, just after 8 months after the
Independence of both the countries, they signed ‘Inter-Dominion Accord of May
4, 1948’, which held that Pakistan will be giving annual payments to India for
the sufficient release of water in their region. This accord was met to fulfil
immediate requirements of Pakistan. Later India didn’t want to change its
status quo but Pakistan took this matter to International Court of Justice as
they thought that their livelihood is at the stake of India, but India refused
to go to ICJ.
This led to a war-like situation between the 2
nations by the year 1954. Both the countries later agreed to go to the World
Bank for the solution. In 1951, David E. Lilienthal visited India and wrote an
article on how the water should be shared between India and Pakistan. Pakistan
was not convinced of it. For many years, they came to no conclusion. India
proposed that east river (i.e. Satluj, Ravi, Beas) will flow to India, and
western rivers (i.e. Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) will flow to Pakistan. But Pakistan
was not ready for this proposal, they wanted that its share of water shall be
based o pre-partition distribution. The World Bank’s proposal was in line with
that of India’s suggestion.
On 19th September 1960, Jawahar Lal
Nehru and General Ayub Khan signed the Indus Water Treaty. Which made it clear
that the Indus water system’s 6 rivers will be divided into 2 parts. One will
be called the eastern rivers which are allocated to India, comprise of Beas,
Satluj and Ravi. Whereas, Pakistan will get wester rivers, namely Jhelum,
Chenab and Indus. India from this treaty received around the annual flow of 33
MAF (million acre-feet) whereas, Pakistan received an annual flow of around 135
MAF.
If we see across the world there are many countries
who have such water treaties between themselves like between Israel and Jordan,
USA and Mexico, S Africa and Swaziland, Lebanon and Syria etc, but in none such
treaty such amount of generosity has been shown by any country as India showed
in IWT. The amount of water the USA gives to America, it's 90% more India gives
to Pakistan. But in return what we get from Pakistan is state-sponsored
terrorism and hostile behaviour.
Indus Basin Development Fund Agreement:
‘another big defeat for India on
diplomatic table’
Pakistan, in order to receive the water
of the western rivers, had to build a canal system so that its water flow in
Pakistan. For building, this system huge fund was required. Therefore,
initially, World Bank proposed that it will be India who will be providing with
the assistance in form of compensation as Pakistan is giving up its right over
eastern rivers to which India disagreed. Therefore, the World Bank formed this
agreement and other countries and financial institutions were involved who
would provide grants and loan to Pakistan for building canal and storage
facility. India had to pay a major proportion of it as a grant, which was about
Rs. 600 crores in that time in the period of next 10 years.
Article V of the treaty says that India
has to pay for the work of building the canal system in Pakistan for irrigation
and various work. As Pakistan was dependant on water supplies from eastern
rivers which they would now not be getting, and India should pay the cost in
form of compensation for the same.
Where once there was only a narrow
strip of irrigated land along these rivers, developments over the last century
have created a large network of canals and storage facilities that provide
water for more than 47 million acres (190,000 sq.km) in Pakistan alone by 2009,
one of the largest irrigated area of any one river system.
There is also question upon the validity of the IWT as the ceremonial and constitutional head of the state of India is the President of India and the treaty was signed by then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru.
[PM J.Nehru (left) and Gen. Ayub Khan (centre)]
LBOD
LBOD (Left Bank Outfall Drain) constructed from 1987 to 1997 was a clear violation on the part of Pakistan of the IWT article IV (10). It was a mega architectural failure on the part of Pakistan, as they have tried to divert the flow of the tributary of Indus river. Earlier the river used to come back into India’s rann of kutch to a natural lake called ‘Shakoor’ and it was very important for kutch’s environment of making salt. But this flow of water was diverted to the west and released into the Arabian sea. But no one can tame nature. As a result, the cyclone in the region made the river flow in the opposite direction and the large chunk of water affected very vegetative region of Pakistan and negatively affected the lives of local people. Almost 800 crores spent by Pakistan to build this 103 km long canal and dam were all destroyed. Many people have lost their lives and means of livelihood.
Other Hydro Projects
India has the power to use the eastern
rivers but with conditions applied. And this resulted in many disputes between
the two nations. India in the past few years has constructed few dams on the
eastern rivers, as it became important to harness the hydro resources and to
not to give away our right, but these dams are in line with the treaty. They do
not violate the IWT. As per the treaty, India can build dams but only for the
purpose of creating Hydroelectricity. And the water of the river shall not be
stopped, and it should be continuously be flowing, and cannot be used for any
other commercial purpose such as irrigation etc. the completed dams’ projects
re as follows:
1. Tulbul Navigation project (Wullar
Barrage).
It was proposed to be made on the mouth
of Wullar lake, in Baramulla district. The plan was to create a barrage in
order to increase the flow in the river Jhelum to make it navigable during the
lean season.
Pakistan objected to it and went for
arbitration. They feared that India might use it to control the Jhelum river
during the winter season, Mangla Dam of Pakistan will be affected and would
also posses security threat to Pakistan sovereignty.
In 1986 it was referred to Indus Water
Commission and 13 rounds had been made. In Agra summit, 2001, both the side
again met but till date, no solution is found and the project is in
between.
1. 2. Kishangangs
Dam(330MW) on a tributary of Jhelum river.
Pakistan has strongly objected to these projects and took the matter
to Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. To which the court
has favoured India and even the world bank has asked Pakistan to accept India’s
demand of ‘neutral expert’. There were many diplomatic visits by the Pakistani
officials in order to keep a tab on the project. Though there are conditions
for India is that it has to maintain a minimum water flow of 9 cubic metres per
second in the Kishanganga River as decided by the tribunal, whereas Pakistan in
the dispute asked for the 100 cubic meters per second of water.
2. 3. Baglihar
Dam(450MW) on Chenab River.
India and Pakistan have resolved at the
meeting of the Permanent Indus Water Commission here the issue of water flows
in the Chenab river being affected during the initial filling of the Baglihar
dam in 2008. Pakistan has decided not to raise the matter further. The matter arose
in 1999 and the solution was found in 2010, which affect the project
financially.
However, the differences in the design
of the 45 MW Nimoo Bazgo hydel project on the Indus River in Leh district
remained at the end of the third day of talks here on Tuesday. The matter will
be discussed further in the next round of talks to be held in Pakistan this or
the next month. And of now, there are many other dam projects that are
under construction or pending to be constructed in the following area.
The amount of power that India generate
in J&K is very less due to obstructions incurred by Pakistan and because of
which the people of J&K are affected. Looking to which J&K legislature
even passed a resolution to revise the IWT.
The shortcoming in the treaty:
1. The treaty does not talk about
the number of dams a country can make on river.
2. It also does not even consider the
effect of climate on water availability, sedimentation.
3. It does not consider the issue of
quality or pollution of water from Industrial or agricultural runoff or the
problem of deforestation even.
Observations:
I personally despite being such a strong
country, India has always lost on the diplomatic table with Pakistan. Be it the
Indus Water Treaty or the Shimla Agreement, we have also tried to be polite and
peaceful with Pakistan in order to maintain cordial relation but to which
Pakistan has always taken the wrong advantage of. Everyday ceasefire violations
or the militant’s intrusion, they have purposefully kept the war alive.
But I don’t condemn the Pakistani
people or even to the Pakistani government completely, because it the system
which is prevailing in the country. Government or the judiciary is not the one
who is de-facto controlling and running the country, but rather the military
and the many other militant organisations who has strong influence through
their muscle power. And this fight for land and water seems endless as it is
benefiting the big people but the innocent public has to pay the price.
India has shown its generosity on land
issues quit many other times as well. like for eg:
1. It gave away Burmese sovereignty
over the Kabaw valley in 1953
2. It gave away the strategic Haji peer
pass to Pakistan after the 1965 war
3. It surrenders the British inherited
extraterritorial rights in Tibet in 1954.
China controlling over Tibet- 'a big
concern for India to worry about'
India takes 1/3 of its water from Tibet
and over which now China is taking its control. Which is a serious issue for
India to worry? Over the Brahmaputra river, China has constructed more than 10
dams and is not concerned about the downstream country's problems.
Revoking of Treaty:
As per Vienna Convention Article 62, gives the right to countries to revoke the treaty but on the reasonable and just ground. India can easily give its reason for increasing state-sponsored terrorism for the revocation. Even ICJ accepts that the principle of the treaty can be dissolved if there is a fundamental change in circumstances.
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