INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Pakistani farmers have voiced concern about future water supplies after India on Wednesday suspended the World Bank-mediated Indus Waters
Tropy of 1960, which ensures water for 80% of Pakistans farms.
India said the suspension would last until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably
abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.
This move comes after last weeks attack in Kashmir
India has accused Pakistan of having been involved, stating two of the three militants who attacked tourists and killed 26 men were from
Pakistan.
Islamabad has denied any role and said any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan … will be
considered as an Act of War.
The treaty split the Indus and its tributaries between the nuclear-armed rivals.
Government officials and
experts on both sides say India cannot stop water flows immediately, because the treaty has allowed it to only build hydropower plants
without significant storage or dams on the three rivers allocated to Pakistan
But things could start changing in a few months, Reuters reported.
We will ensure no drop of the Indus Rivers water reaches Pakistan, Indias
water resources minister, Chandrakant Raghunath Paatil, said on X.
He did not respond to questions about the fears in Pakistan.
Two Indian
government officials, who declined to be identified, said the country could within months start diverting the water for its own farms using
canals while planning hydroelectric dams that could take four to seven years to finish.
Immediately, India will stop sharing data like
hydrological flows at various sites of the rivers flowing through India, withhold flood warnings and skip annual meetings under the
Permanent Indus Commission headed by one official each from the two countries, said Kushvinder Vohra, a recently retired head of Indias
Central Water Commission.
They will not have much information with them when the water is coming, how much is coming, said Vohra, who was
also Indias Indus Commissioner and now advises the government occasionally.
Without the information, they cannot plan.
And it is not just
agriculture, a shortage of water will also hit electricity generation and potentially cripple the economy, economists say.
Vaqar Ahmed,
economist and team lead with UK consulting firm Oxford Policy Management, said that Pakistan had underestimated the threat of India walking
away from the treaty.
India hasnt got the kind of immediate infrastructure to halt the waterflows, especially during flood times, so this
period creates a crucial window for Pakistan to address the inefficiencies in its water sector, he said.
There are a lot of inefficiencies,
leakages.
In recent years, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis government has been seeking to renegotiate the treaty and the two countries
have been trying to settle some of their differences in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague over the size of the Kishenganga and
Ratle hydroelectric plants water storage area, Reuters reported.
We can now pursue our projects in free will, said Vohra.
In a letter on
Thursday, India told Pakistan that circumstances had changed since the treaty was signed, including population increases and the need for
more cleaner energy sources, referring to hydropower.
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