Questions are raised on the Indus Water Treaty whether it does justice to India in view of her land mass and population. The treaty was brokered by the World Bank which is a powerful instrument in the control of capitalist powers. Despite three major rivers providing maximum benefits to Pakistan, that country has been creating obstructions in our way of utilizing the waters of these three rivers fully in accordance with the clauses of the treaty. In retrospect, one fails to understand why India should have given so much leeway to Pakistan in regard to utilization of the waters of three rivers namely Indus, Jhelum and Chenab.
Whenever Pakistan raised an objection over any irrigation or hydroelectric power generation project on these rivers, India agreed to refer the matter to the arbitration of the World Bank. Not a single objection of Pakistan was ever upheld by the World Bank. Yet Pakistan continues its hostility without rhyme and reason.
Pakistan has accelerated her hostility towards us. After Gurdaspur and Pathankot terrorist attacks, we have had more in Udhampur, Pampore and Uri. Despite repeated warnings, Pakistan has not abandoned her blatantly inimical policy of infiltrating into our side and launching attacks on police and military installations. Pakistan’s aggressive designs have crossed the limit and the Prime Minister of India had to take a strong position so that Pakistan is deterred in her nefarious designs. In his Independence Day speech, the Prime Minister did not mince words about Pakistan forcing India to take retaliatory steps so that Pakistan is exposed in the eyes of international fraternity. The PM hinted that the Indus Water Treaty needed to be revisited. He did not elaborate the subject, but ever since the issue has become live for debates in political circles and with the media. Hawks at home say that India is not bound to uphold the clauses of the treaty when we feel that it is unjust and uneven and should be revoked. India has a cogent point.
Actually observers are proposing two things for India to consider. One is to write to the WB for revoking the treaty and redrawing it along lines of justice, equity and necessity. That means India would want to get the share of water in accordance with her size, population and needs. That would determine new clauses of the treaty. The second opinion is that India should ask for full implementation of her share of water as agreed in the treaty. It is said that India is not utilizing 20 per cent of the water of three rivers allocated to her according to the Indus Water Treaty. Therefore India should ask the World Bank to ensure that she is given the full measure of her allocation.
The work on Tulbul Navigation Project on Wullar Lake in North Kashmir’s Sopore area of Baramulla district is lying abandoned since last three decades owing to repeated objections by Pakistan under Indus Water Treaty. Actually there are two projects at the Tulbul site; one is Tulbul Navigation Project on Wullar Lake and the other one is Wullar Conservation project – nearly 2.5 kilometers from the site of Tulbul Navigation Project. Very often the Wullar Conservation project is confused with Tulbul Navigation Project which is incorrect. The Conservation Project falls in the domain of Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) Department of the State Government and has nothing to do with the Indus Water Treaty or the World Bank. It is the Tulbul Navigation Project (called Wullar Barrage) on which Pakistan has raised objections and for last three decades work on the project remains suspended owing to that objection. According to the original plan, the barrage was expected to be 439-feet long and 40-feet wide, and would have a maximum storage capacity of 3, 00,000 million acres feet of water. However, Pakistan considers construction of Tulbul Navigation as violation of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty. In 2012, a group of about 16 armed militants swooped on the Wullar Conservation project, thrashed the engineers, forbade the workers from working on the project and blasted portion of the Conservation project. They had mistaken the Conservation Project for the Tulbul Navigation Project and had taken directions from the ISI of destroying it. Anyhow, that project remains suspended for last three decades and to the detriment of the State.
In this background we would strongly suggest that the work on Tulbul project should be resumed under the protection of security forces and Pakistan is not to be given any right to interfere in this matter as it is completely within our jurisdiction and within the clauses of the Indus Water Treaty. We should now change our policy of responding to each and every objection of Pakistan. We cannot put the interests of the people of the State at stake just to please Pakistan. That policy needs to be reversed
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