Despite being a victim of cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, India has been most gracious in respecting the Indus Water Treaty. The World Bank is behaving strangely, lately.
Indus Water Treaty : India should call the shots
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The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank (WB) [then the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)], and signed in Karachi on September 19, 1960. A full Bodhi on it is available on Bodhi Booster, here.
PM Pandit Nehru of India signed the Treaty in the hope that it would bring peace, and gave Pakistan the system’s largest rivers (Jhelum, Chenab and Indus, the western rivers) and retained exclusive use of the eastern rivers of Ravi Beas and Sutlej. Nehru was always motivated by a feeling of international brotherhood. The IWT is the most generous treaty of its king globally, in terms of what the lower riparian gets. Although, the two countries have been engaged in hostilities on the Kashmir issue on several occasions, the Indus Treaty has never been mentioned as a weapon by India till the September 2016 Uri attack when India suspended the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) with Pakistan.
According to the terms of the treaty, either party is permitted to seek a neutral expert’s appointment, but the treaty does not specify unilateral right for a court of arbitration. The World Bank has also not remained fair to India all these years. This has complicated matters further. In November 2016, the Bank proceeded to appoint both a court of arbitration (as demanded by Pakistan) and a neutral expert (as suggested by India), thereby breaching the terms of IWT. An arbitral tribunal was appointed in 2010 with the consent of both parties. However, the neutral expert is empowered to refer the parties’ disagreement, if required, to a court of arbitration. Bank’s dual processes was protested against, and it has paused. It is now pleading with India to bail out Pakistan over the two moderate sized Indian hydro-power projects. Indian government has not even initiated any new project to correct India’s failure to tap its meager share of 19.48% of the Indus water. Pakistan, on the other hand, wants design changes of the type it enforced in the Salal project which resulted in the plant silting up, and is threatening to target other Indian projects as well.
The PIC suspension has now been lifted. The truth being that the suspension was just eyewash, with the PIC missing no meeting. The government has appointed a committee to examine India’s own right under IWT. India’s under-utilization of its share has resulted in Pakistan getting more than 10 billion cubic metres (BCM) yearly over and above its 167.3 BCM allocation. Pakistan’s interest lies in sustaining the world’s most beneficial treaty. But it is still not desisting from carrying out proxy war against India. It is time India twists Pakistan’s arm. Enough is truly enough.
View a comprehensive resource on “Rivers of India” on Bodhi Resources page.
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