India’s water war
WHILE our politicians are involved in issues such as writing a letter to the Swiss government, they are not giving attention to matters such as India’s silent war.
India plans to build 40 dams on river Jhelum/Chenab, out of which four large dams and 16 small ones have already become
operational. India is building the world’s third largest dam, Kargil, on River Indus.
A water tunnel is now working and taking 45 per cent of the water of River Indus. India has completed the disputed Balighar Dam on River Chenab which is now functional.
India has decided to make Pakistan a desert nation and bring it down to its knees without firing a single bullet by 2015. This is water war.
Why are we and our government not taking any action? We must all come forward and have our voices heard.
Unfortunately, our politicians are neither interested nor have time for such issues. They are busy blaming others and
seeking ways to seize political power and wealth.
I look forward to a reply on the above issue by any government ministry to satisfy the public.
ENGR A. RAHIM
Karachi
I think India can build dams for power and navigation but not for irrigation
So what happened to writing to the Swiss ?
If my memory serves me right, the last time when Pakistan raised an issue of a dam being built by India (may be Baghliar dam ?), the dam was determined to be within the rights of India as agreed in the treaty, as long as it does not divert the water. I guess these new dams are similar.
I never realised that this section is read by so many Indians. Funny thing is that Pakistanis who replied got so many thumbs down.
Unfortunately Pakistan and India both face an acute water shortage, with water tables across the continent continuing to drop. The water tables are dropping by 1-2% less of water each year, and we have a population growth of 2% per year. Now lets do the math, in just the next 10 years we will have 30-45% less water per person in the region.
Further, the advance of upper and middle class will suck up disproportionately larger amount more water. That means the marginalized poor are likely to be left out to dry. Both the countries will need to completely revamp their water management to sustain the marginalized poor population. The crises could be prevented through joint solutions, better planning, management and application of new irrigation technologies. Otherwise we have a significant risk of large scale disaster.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely that politicians will react fast. Once the water scarcity is upon us, the game is constrained to a negative sum, and everyone then goes from cooperation into survival mode were all bets are off. This crises could lead to severe drought and starvation that could affect hundreds of millions of people on both sides of the border. Due to such stress there is increases chances of regional conflict, both within the provinces with-in India & Pakistan, and between the two nations.
State of Punjab in Pakistan blocks water from flowing to Sindh and we are ok with it but make a big deal when India might build some dams in its own land for irrigation & electricity …please…If the land was in Pakistani Punjab it would do the same for the benefit of its own farmers.
As usual this article doesn’t make any sense
Please read about the Indus Treaty in details, understand the real data on how much water is ACTUALLY flowing in to Pakistan, and PLEASE do raise your voice against water wastage and inability to manage dykes, dams etc construction in Pakistan which is either causing massive water shortages or massive floods in Pakistan.
Mr Rahim displays perfect example of a person who is either seriously misinformed or is a part of the anti India propaganda machinery which works overtime to malign anything associated with India. Mr Rahim should first apprise himself of the various provisions of the Indus water treaty which is freely available on the internet. As per Appendix D of the treaty, India is allowed to build dams on the western rivers subject to certain condition's which are clearly mentioned in the text. It also allows usage of water for domestic and non consumptive use which are also defined in the article III of the agreement.
Instead Pakistan should see that how much water is being wasted by them. Over the years the trend world over has been to grow high yielding varieties which always require much more water and fertilizers to grow than traditional crops. Pakistan is also a part of the trend. A close study of the change on cropping patterns and water requirement per acre of land will give the real truth out. Millions of hectares of land in Pakistan has become salty due to indiscriminate use of canal water and fertilizers. As water resources are getting scarce every year Pakistan should instead invest in the improvement of its water management system instead of nukes if it wants to survive. You cannot hold India responsible for anything and everything going wrong with Pakistan.
HALLELUJAH!! HALLELUJAH!! HALLELUJAH!!!
Another great consipiracy theory that should keep the consipiracy theorists, news media and India baiters busy and energized for a while.
PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!!
Fueling fire doesn’t resolve disputes. Be just and transparent. India and Pakistan lose benefits of nature’s gift i.e. Indus Waters by such jingoism. This xenophobia will lead us to lose benefit from our river waters for generations. Contrary to your belief, residents of both sides understand that water conflict hurt them directly so they have much higher interests and stakes in 'Peace'. For them 'Optimum Utilization of Waters of Indus Basin' is directly proportionate to their economic prosperity. It is inhuman to ignore importance of Storage Dams to fully utilize waters of Indus for power generation, flood control, irrigation, drinking and commercial industrial uses.
you are absoultely right.our politicians shold take it seriously.but unfortunately they are only concerned about their status ant chairs not the country.plz think about thecountry fear of God bcs u will have to ans Him
India is allowed to make dams within the Indus water treaty guidelines forthe purpose of irrigation, storage and generation of electricity. India has honoured the treaty during all wars with Pakistan. India was accused of many Pakistani politicians of causing the 2010 floods too. It is disheartening to see the mis-information in Pakistan regarding this issue.Before writing such comments people should atleast read the Indus Water Treaty guidelines which is available on many websites.
The issue was raised in UN by Pakistan and it claimed that India should abide by the water treaty act but UN turned blind eye to the issue and asked both Pakistan and India to resolve the issue by themselves. That may lead us to another war with India. In the past many nations fought wars over water shortage. India must not build dams over the rivers flowing towards Pakistan. It is time for Pakistan to wake up after deep sleep.
WATER SHARING IS GOVERNED BY INDUS WATER TREATY. THIS DOES NOT FORBID INDIA FROM BUILDING DAMS UPSTREAM.COMPLAINANT SHOULD WRITE WHAT CLUASE OF TREATY IS VOILATED AND HOW. PAKISTAN CAN GO TO INTERNATIONAL COURT IF IT HAS SOUND LOGIC.
Yes Sunil,you are right have as much of water as you like but how about controlling your population which is increasing by geometrical prgression formula and will be about 5 billion by the year 2050and you will have only one square mile area of living for 5000 people and if you discard mountain and build uparea it will be 10000people per square mile then will you cultivate crops or human beings on the land with all the water ? We have no problem by all ratio and proportions our and your land available to people ratio will remain 1:4 what is your solution of problem water control or population control?
what India is doing is within the provisions of "Indus Water Treaty" and Indus Water Commission is watching over it. Other than that everything is a conspiracy theory.
India is building dams for irrigation purpose and that is allowed in the treaty. There is no intention to block Pakistan's water and divert the rivers. Pakistan is obsessed with anti India conspiracy theories and govt like people to believe that.
Oh please…. not again…India is not waging any war on water. Mr. Rahim, please learn the art of writing first and then equip yourself with facts and statistics before you state something.
his mind is closed
I have lost count of such meaning less articles. often these writers are victims of counter India propaganda or part of it. They neither have statistics, nor the evidence. Let me say that India has not blocked or deviated any upstream rivers of Pakistan. India will never want Pakistan's poor farmer to suffer.
Living in denial…has any indian ever accepted any wrongdoing by the indian govt..? the stealing of Pakistani water is a fact not a myth.
In this same newspaper have you read the article about gurgoan and its water woes.If india had stolen water , then .that article's situation would not be there.
Inspired by one of many conspiracy theories which are bread and butter in Pakistan.
This is not true. India itself faces a huge water scarcity, and these dams are a step towards making us better-off.
at the cost of Pakistan's share of water that is.
The inflow in barrages in Pakistan can provide continuous flow in canals. One more fact missed is that substantial inflows to Pakistan even today are colossal and causing flooding every year. Please have a copy of our Water Management Treaty entered on behest of IMF and read its dispute resolution mechanism. Please point out the specific violations India has made and to which clause of the treaty? At least list specific actions of India putting Pakistan at disadvantage? To the young educated mind of both nations, I request to analyze that no civilian development project in Pakistan is ever opposed by India at any forum. If so please give specific example?
at the cost of Pakistan's share of Water i.e.
Dear Rahim why don’t you give some sources for all the information you have written here? Or you have imagined this?
this is highly shameful that our Indus Water Commissioner always wake at that time when India completed its project about 70 to 80 %
easy to bribe