Qaisar Mansoor
India has again violated the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) by announcing 540 MW ‘Kwar hydro-electric project’ located on Chenab River. Pakistan’s water authorities have expressed reservations over the Indian decision of the hydro-electric project over Chenab River. According to reports, India’s federal cabinet approved Rs4,526.12 crore for the 540MW project being built in Kishtwar district of IIOJK.
Ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party has come to power in India, an effort is being made on the part of the Hindutva forces to use water as a tool of spreading chaos in neighboring Pakistan.
New Delhi has been trying to establish its hegemony in the region and create deliberate water shortages for Pakistan by controlling water resources in violation of the Indus Waters Treaty. Violation of IWT is in line with India’s national policy of backtracking from its pledges & breaking int’l agreements.
The Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960 and governs six rivers that form a crucial lifeline for Pakistan. The treaty gives use of three rivers to India and three to Pakistan.
India’s water resources minister had stated that the Modi government had decided to choke off any flow to Pakistan from the three rivers India controls.
India already uses about 94 percent of these waters and is moving ahead with projects to utilize what remains rather than let those waters flow to Pakistan. Yet there is a clear desire in the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to do more.
In the past, India’s water resources minister, had said that there were calls for India to prevent even “a single drop of water” from going to Pakistan. But such decisions would have to be taken at “higher levels” of government.
Talk of reducing water supply is a grave matter for any country, but especially one like Pakistan. Experts warn that Pakistan is on the brink of an era of water scarcity caused by the construction of a number of dams on the rivers flowing into the country.
The intransigence shown by India and her defiance of international commitments is highly regrettable and proves her unending enmity towards Pakistan. Modi is on record to have threatened to stop the flow of waters of the rivers allotted to Pakistan under the Indus Water Treaty sponsored and guaranteed by the World Bank, analysts said.
