DeansMusings

  Water Wars II: India finally acts In my earlier blogpost on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), written in 2023, referencing my paper on Pakistan of 2016, I argued that India did not need to abrogate the treaty to put pressure on Pakistan. It first needed to fully utilise the rights that the treaty already gave it. The points made were: 2023 Blogpost on the IWT -India is not utilizing even its (20%) share of river water. -India is not utilizing the power and irrigation capacity on the Western (Pakistan’s) rivers  that is entitled to. Consequently J&K, where the rivers flow through, has a power and w ater shortage. - India has taken no steps to divert any water from Pakistan’s rivers – in fact, we should have  actively helped Afghanistan negotiate an equitable water sharing treaty for rivers rising in Afghanistan and flowing into Pak.  The reality since 2025. We cannot simply `turn off' water to Pak. If all the current and planned projects  are completed on sc...

 I first covered the IWT  as part of my paper on Pakistan, summary in Swarajya in 2016 Pakistan will soon be one of the most water stressed nations in the world - due to high population growth and inadequate water management. Current per capita availability at 1000 Cu meters, makes Pakistan highly water stressed and at the same level as Ethiopia. Even the rumour that India might review the Indus water treaty, or the incorrect and misguided view that India is `stealing Pakistan’s water’, causes anxiety among all sections of Pakistani society. Pakistan’s water vulnerability is not being exploited by India. It does not require India to abrogate the Indus Water treaty (IWT), but needs to mostly do what is allowed under the IWT and in our national interest. What is also overlooked is exploitation of Afghan river water by Pakistan. The following steps by India can greatly exacerbate Pakistan’s water crisis and we believe that long before they do, India can use the resulting anxiety ...