ISLAMABAD – The new PTI government would knock again at the door of theWorld Bank regarding Indian government’s violation of the Indus WaterTreaty 1960 and demand setting up a ‘court of arbitration’ to settle thewater disputes between the two countries.
India and Pakistan are disputing the construction of 330MW Kishenganga and850MWs of Ratle hydropower projects being built by Indian on River Jehlumand River Chenab respectively where Pakistan has right of unrestricted useunder the treaty.
Pakistan has severely objected to the designs of these controversialprojects and Islamabad has been requesting the Bank for the constitution ofcourt of arbitration since long, while India is asking for appointment of aneutral expert to look into the issue.
“A new government is coming into power in Pakistan, while China, Russia andTurkey are also acknowledging that water is the major issue of Pakistan, sothe World Bank must set up a court of arbitration,” caretaker FederalMinister for Water resources Syed Ali Zafar said on Monday while respondingto a question of media that the World Bank is not responding positivelysince the Indian lobby is strong and its official are sitting on the topposts of the Bank.
The minister also presented a 10-point guideline for the development ofwater sector which the minister said have been formulated after takingopinions from water experts and other stakeholders.
As climate change is haunting the country and the cropping pattern ischanging, while the annual water availability of 138MAF could also change,construction of dams is very much necessary.
These guidelines suggest developing consensus on construction of theKalabagh Dam. Besides, work on construction of Diamer-Basha having waterstorage capacity of 11.7MAF and Mohmand Dam with 0.75MAF should beexpedited. Similarly, government should also focus on construction of smalldams and reservoirs.
At the time of the Indus Water Treaty in 1960, Pakistan had planned toconstruct eight dams and 400 reservoirs and run of river projects, as itwas getting 138 million acres feet (MAF) of water annually. But, sincethen, it has built only Tarbela and Mangla dams which have 6.43MAF and7.4MAF water storage capacities respectively.
The remaining huge amount of water goes into sea untapped. India has builtdozens of dams and canals and other reservoirs during this period.