Water Crisis in Pakistan: Bigger Threat than Militancy

Seminar on Pak-India water dispute Speakers ask govt to move ICJ for resolution

LAHORE The water dispute between India and Pakistan could lead to the Third World War.Pakistan should approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Indian water aggression and appeal for the review of the Indus Water Treaty.The government should seriously consider immediate construction of several dams including Kalabagh Dam, Bhasha Dam, Mirani Dam, and Gomal Dam otherwise India could strangulate Pakistans agriculture, the mainstay of the economy.

These views were expressed by the speakers who were addressing a seminar on 'Water Dispute and What is Solution? here at the Hameed Nizami Hall on Tuesday.Punjab Minister for Agriculture Malik Ahmed Ali Aulakh, former Agriculture Minister Chaudhry Sultan Ali and Indus Water Council Chairman Zahoorul Hassan Dahar spoke on the occasion.Earlier, the speakers also met Editor-in-Chief The Nation Majid Nizami at his office.

Speaking on the occasion, Punjab Agriculture Minister Ahmed Ali Aulakh said that Pakistan was highly dependent on agriculture, which in turn was dependent on water.Almost 80 per cent of Pakistans agriculture was dependent on irrigation, he added.He further said that India was committing sheer violation of the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960 between both the neighbours.He also said that some parties were politicising the issue of Indus River water due to some reasons and this could lead to differences among the coalition partners.He said that all the provinces had signed agreement regarding the sharing of water in 1991, but the Sindh province was asking the Punjab not to use the water of Indus River and postponed the Chashma-Jhelum link canal project.

He said that the Chief Minister Punjab had taken up the issue with Prime Minister but IRSA was taking such decision that would trigger differences.
He said that some vested interest people had launched foreign-sponsored propaganda campaign against Kalabagh Dam.He said that there was a need to develop consensus among the provinces on the issue of Kalabagh Dam.
He said that Indian decision to construct two hydroelectric projects on River Neelam was another violation of the Indus Basin Water Treaty.He said that India was speedily building 62 dams or hydroelectric power projects on Chenab and Jhelum rivers that would be completed before 2014.
As a matter of fact, India has always violated the treaty intermittently to create economic crisis in Pakistan.

In 1984 a controversy arose between the two neighbouring states when India began construction of the Wullar Barrage on river Jhelum in the occupied Kashmir in violation of the Indus Basin Water Treaty.

In the past, the issue of Wullar Barrage has also been discussed in various rounds of talks, being held under composite dialogue process between the two rivals, but Indian intransigence continues, he added.
He said that in the mid 1990s India started another violation by constructing Baglihar Dam on Chenab River.In 2005, Pakistan had again sought the World Banks help to stop construction of the Baglihar Dam.Although WB allowed India to go ahead with the project after a few modifications, yet it did not permit the interruption of the agreed quota of water flow to Pakistan, he maintained.

Indus Water Council Chairman Zahoorul Hassan Dahar said that India was playing the role of 'Yazeed by blocking Pakistans share of waters and the unending Indian water aggression could trigger Third World War.
He said that Pakistan was facing severe energy and food crises due to Indian water terrorism.He said that India suddenly reduced water flow of Chenab River in 2008 to give a setback to Pakistans autumnal crops.He further said that the shortage of water in the Chenab river, occurred due to filling up the Baglihar Dam.

Zahoorul Hassan said that Mangla and Tarbela dams had reached deal level for the last many days as New Delhi had been using water as an instrument of aggression.He said that the water shortage was leading to food scarcity, energy crisis, and closure of industries besides multiplying unemployment in the country.He also revealed that people were forced to buy a drum of water at Rs 80 in some parts of Southern Punjab.He also urged the government to pass condemnation resolution against Indian water aggression in all the four provincial and national assemblies.
He said that the water issue should be on top of the agenda in the defense policy.

Former Agriculture Minister Sultan Ali Chaudhry said that after the completion of Tarbela Dam, all the equipment and machinery were shifted to Kalabagh Dam site to start its construction but the project was postponed during the era of Gen Ziaul Haq.Since then, the project had not been started.He said that the Indus Water Treaty should be reviewed and changed so that India could not block Pakistans share of waters.He said that some vested interest groups were getting money from the enemies of Pakistan and had launched propaganda against the construction of Kalabagh Dam in Sindh.He said that the construction of Kalabagh Dam was important for all the provinces as it would help provide 2.5 million acre feet (MAF) water to Punjab while Sindh would get 2.5 MAF water and one MAF water would be the share of Balochistan province.

Curtsey:The Nation,March 17,2010

World Water Day a wakeup call for Pakistan

Water and electricity problems are not really the problems of Pakistani rulers: Shamsul Mulk
Water is key to food security. Major changes in policy and management, across the entire agricultural production chain, are needed to ensure best use of available water resources in meeting growing demands for food and other agricultural products.
Water, climate change and food security experts, academia and students expressed these views while addressing a seminar here on Thursday at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi.
In connection with World Water Day, the seminar titled “Water for Sustainable Development: Impacts of Climate Change on Water & National Food Security” was jointly organised by the university, Oxfam, Indus Consortium and UN-HABITAT.
Shamsul Mulk, former chairman Wapda, while encouraging the students to pursue contemporary knowledge in the fields of science and technology and urging the faculty to impart education in the language students think in, said that Pakistan posses the largest water drain system in the world, and it was difficult to understand how a country with such resources is poor.
“Pakistan’s water and electricity problems are not really the problems of Pakistani rulers; so they never make concrete projects for the country. Students and civil society will have to play a crucial role in creating a larger consensus, as larger water reservoirs will benefit every Pakistani,” Kalabagh dam’s most vociferous supporter added.
Dr. Rai Niaz Ahmad, Vice Chancellor of PMAS-AAUR, said that a conventional farmer gets 5-6 tonnes yield of vegetable from per acre of land while a progressive farmer can yield 12-15 tonnes through tunnel farming. But we are yielding 300 tonnes per acre at our Rawat farms through hydroponic system.
“Arid university has become a role model for federal and provincial governments’ institutions in the field of rain water harvesting system. Many institutions are seeking our help in establishing a facility like we have in Rawat. Pakistan spent Rs. 10 billion last year for importing tomatoes from India. Give me Rs. 2 billion and I will secure your tomato supplies for ten years to the extent that you may also export it to India,” said Dr. Niaz amid thumping round of applause.
Javeria Afzal, Advisor (Livelihood & Adaptation) of Oxfam Novib, said that we need to plan for coping with disasters. Global phenomenon of climate change is also affecting many developed countries but they have resources and technology to significantly reduce the loses. But developing countries like Pakistan are being affected the most despite the fact that Pakistan is at the bottom in emitting greenhouse gases.
“In the face of predictions of more extreme weather, Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments and civil society organizations are responsible to protect citizens by following through on their pledges and scaling up current programs that help ensure resilience to climate-related risks,” Javeria emphasised.
Curtsey:Pakistan Today: MARCH 20, 2015 

Sindh’s lakes drying due to water scarcity, encroachment
IMTIAZ ALI

Insufficient water supply and encroachment are making the situation worse at the lakes. —APP/File
KARACHI: The historical lakes of Sindh, which have also been declared wildlife sanctuaries, are shrinking due to a host of reasons including reduced supply of water and encroachment, it emerged on Sunday.
“Insufficient water supply and encroachment are making the situation worse at the lakes,” according to official documents reviewed by Dawn.
A report recently prepared by the Sindh wildlife department said the water supply to Haleji Lake in Thatta was inadequate. It explained that the lake’s required water level was 28RL (reduced level) but it was currently at 17RL. The reduced water supply to the wildlife sanctuary was partly the outcome of the government decision in 1994 to stop supply of water to the Haleji Lake from the Keenjhar Lake, it added.
Once an important wetland spread over 17 square kilometres on the Eurasian continent, Haleji Lake was also known as Birds’ Paradise. Even at present it provided a natural habitat to more than 20,000 birds of different species. They included pelican, coot, moorhen, spotted eagle, mallard, grebe, cormorant, heron, egret, spoonbill, flamingo, pintail, wigeon, shoveller and gadwall. The lake was designated as Ramsar site in 1976 and wildlife sanctuary in 1977.
The same level of deterioration has also been noticed at Drigh Lake in Kamber/Shahdadkot district. Declared wildlife sanctuary in 1972, Drigh Lake lies in a shallow depression covering an area of 1.64 sq-km, where a population of 20,000 birds has been recorded.
The official report revealed that this lake faced the challenge of encroachment.
Similar situation has been recorded at Lungh Lake in Qamber-Shahdadkot district. Spread over an area of 0.40 square kilometre, the lake was declared a wildlife sanctuary. It was considered the best lake across the Upper Sindh for it provided ideal habitat to waterfowl. The present population is estimated to be more than 30,000 birds. The habitat comprises three types namely open water with typha and juncus on edges, swamp area dominated by tamarix and surrounding rice field dominated by juncus.
Another wildlife sanctuary in Shaheed Benazirabad district, Deh Akro-II, has been facing a grim situation since the discontinuation of water supply to it from a canal.
The Deh Akro-II wildlife sanctuary is considered a combination of lakes and sand dunes. Declared wildlife sanctuary in 1988, it is spread over an area of 202 square kilometres with ‘picturesque piece of land and amazing topography with small and large lakes with intervening sand dunes’, according to the report.
More than 20,000 birds regularly congregate at the sanctuary besides there were crocodiles, monitor lizard, marbled teal, partridge, houbara bustard and waterfowl such as mallard, pintail, egret and heron etc.
At least there were 29 lakes in Deh Akro with intervening sand dunes, said the report.
Source:  Dawn, June 29th, 2015

INDIA/PAKISTAN: Indus Water Treaty Agitates Kashmiris
By Athar Parvaiz

Adventure sports are popular on the Indus river in Kashmir.  Credit:Athar Parvaiz/IPS

SRINAGAR, Oct 15 (IPS) - As Pakistan and India wrangle over the waters of the Chenab, Kashmiris - through whose homeland the river and four other tributaries of the mighty Indus flow - have reason to be agitated. 

Soon after Indian Prime Minister inaugurated the 450 Mw Baglihar hydro-electric dam project across the Chenab, during a visit to Jammu & Kashmir state last week, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari warned that disrupting the flow of the river could reverse recent improvements in ties between the two neighbours. 

"Pakistan would be paying a very high price for India's move to block Pakistan's water supply from the Chenab River," the official Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Zardari as saying on Sunday. 

Zardari made reference to the World Bank-mediated 1960 Indus Water Treaty which allows the two countries share the Indus river and its five tributaries - the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej - and provides mechanisms for dispute settlement. 

Under the treaty, Pakistan received exclusive use of waters from the Indus and its westward flowing tributaries, the Jhelum and Chenab, while the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers were allocated for India's use. 

India, which has a right to ‘’run-of-the-river’’ projects has rejected Pakistan's contention that the Baglihar dam reduces the flow of water and says the project is crucial for power-starved Kashmir. 

In 2005 Pakistan had sought the World Bank's intervention to stop construction of the Baglihar dam and the hydroelectricity power project, but Bank-appointed experts cleared the project while asking India to restrict the overall height of the dam. 

Earlier India had to stop construction of Tulbul Navigation Project on the River Jhelum on account of objections raised by Pakistan. While India maintained that the project was designed to improve navigation, especially during the winter when the water level recedes, Pakistan said that the Wullar Barrage [as Islamabad calls the project] is a storage project which will affect the flow of water. Work on the project has remained stalled for 20 years. 

Under the treaty, Pakistan is to receive 55,000 cusecs of water, but authorities there complain that this year Pakistan's share was drastically reduced, causing damage to crops. "Pakistan received between 13,000 cusecs during the winter and a maximum of 29,000 cusecs during summer. This averages around 22,000 to 25,000 cusecs - less than half of Pakistan's share,’’ newspapers in Pakistan, citing authorities, say. 

India and Pakistan may be talking to each other to settle their disputes over the Indus water, but the people in Indian Kashmir say that the two countries are actually reaping the benefits of what are their resources. Thanks to the Indus Water Treaty, only 40 percent of the cultivatable land in the state can be irrigated and 10 percent of the hydroelectric potential harnessed. 

"Who represented Kashmir then [1960] at the table? What was the ‘locus standi’ of the two countries to abuse waters of a region that had independent identity till 1947, and on which they disputed each other's claim afterwards?" asks human rights activist, Shayik Nazir. 

"The issue that remains at the center of Indus water treaty is that the treaty was signed at a time when Jammu & Kashmir was passing through a phase of both economic and political innocence. There was a political leadership in the state which was working in what one can say as national interest [of India] at that point of time", says political analyst Gul Mohammad Wani. 

"The popular political leadership; the legitimate political leadership [in Jammu & Kashmir] was out of the political scene. We had a government which had absolutely no legitimacy and no credibility in the estimation of the people of the state and it was during those times the treaty was signed." 

Srinagar-based economic expert Arjimand Hussain Talib says that the treaty drastically limits the economic benefits to Kashmir. "And then the power houses which are being built on these are generally owned by the Indian government without taking into consideration the fact that they basically flow through Jammu and Kashmir", Arjimand told IPS. 

"They don't share the profits and the resources which are generated through these (rivers) with the Jammu & Kashmir state except for the 12 percent royalty on power that it gets,’’ he added. 

Shakeel Qalandhar, president of the Kashmir Industries and Commerce Federation, says that Kashmir's economy would have greatly progressed, but for the 1960 treaty. "Through these three main rivers, we could have generated hydroelectric power not less than 30,000 Mw, but we are generating just over 300 Mw in the state sector and 1,600 Mw in the central sector. In all it is less than 2,000 Mw whereas we require 2,500 Mw of electricity for our own consumption - domestic and industrial.’’ 

According to Qalandar, every year Jammu & Kashmir purchases power [from the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation] worth billions of dollars. "It is a tragedy that despite having the potential of generating 30,000 Mw of power, 25 percent of our population is without electricity and 55 percent is without safe drinking, despite huge water resources in the state." 

Over the last few years, the state government of Jammu & Kashmir and industrial groups in the state have been demanding compensation from the central government for the losses incurred by the state because of the Indus Water Treaty. 

Motions were moved in the state assembly on three different occasions by the legislators asking the federal government to review the treaty and pay compensation to the state. "Our state is suffering due to the wrong decision of the then leaders and we are losing billions of dollars annually", contended legislator, Depinder Kour, while moving a resolution in the assembly a few years ago. 

"Ours is a land-locked state. We don't have industries and other economic resources except the water. But because of the treaty, India and Pakistan benefit while Jammu & Kashmir suffers huge economic losses. That is why we are seeking compensation,'' says Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, state secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI). 
ipsnews: 

Water use issues amongst provinces

Political dialogue is the key to resolving water use issues amongst Provinces, say experts at the Provincial Consultative Workshop for Punjab
IUCN Pakistan organised a provincial consultative workshop for Punjab on ‘Pakistan Water Programme’ in Lahore on January 29, 2013 in collaboration with Oxfam-Novib.
The objective of the consultative workshop was to discuss priority issues that Punjab is facing with respect to water resources. The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Shahid Ahmad, an eminent expert on the subject. 

The event was attended by senior officials from various provincial departments i.e., Punjab Irrigation, Environment, Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries departments and Water & Power Development Authority, representatives from the research institutions, academia including; International Water Management Institute, Pakistan Council for Research on Water Resources,  Punjab University and Agriculture University Faisalabad and the Lahore Women University.  Representatives of the IUCN member organisations including: World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Shirkat Gah-Women Resource Centre and South-Asia Partnership. Eminent experts, Mr. Mohammad Hussain Bhatti of Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations Organisation and Rana Shabbir Ahmad, Chief Conservator of Punjab Forest Department were also amongst the participants. 

Dr. Shahid Ahmad said that trans-boundary and trans-provincial water conflicts on Indus River are getting severe with the rise in demand, where such a situation is affecting country’s plans for developing hydro-power infrastructure on main Indus River. He said that there is a disconnect between strategy and framework of actions used for management of water, as the link between institutions dealing with different sources of water and its sub-sectors is missing. He further said that improved governance at all levels is essential to ensure water security in many respects i.e. capacity, infrastructure, mobility, institutions, transparency and accountability, etc.

Mr. Mahmood Akhtar Cheema, IUCN Country Representative in his remarks mentioned that in a scenario, where per capita water availability is reducing, the current usage practices required to be reviewed, as water is no more a free commodity. Mr. Cheema was of the view that the issue of water availability needs to be taken as a ‘multi-sectoral issue’, where its linkages with agriculture, livelihood and nature must be kept in view while devising strategies, plans and programmes of this sector.

Mr. Riaz Nazir Tarar, who is an eminent expert, said that hydro-diplomacy is of critical importance, for which the scientific knowledge-base needs to be strengthened for supporting informed decision making. He further said that the lavish and un-wise use of water, both for agriculture and domestic needs must be curtailed.

Dr. Ashfaq Ahmad Chatha from Agriculture University, Faisalabad stressed on measures to enhance effective use of available water resources. He said that rain water harvesting for domestic use and re-use of grey-water for agriculture can be promoted as best examples to achieve water security. Mr. Ahmed Ali Zaffar, Additional Secretary, Punjab Agriculture Department appreciated the organizers and experts for highlighting very important issues and offered support of the Government of Punjab to carry forward the recommendations for holding a regional dialogue on the subject.

All the participants of the workshop unanimously agreed that continuous political dialogue is the key to resolving issues of water usage amongst  the provinces. It was stressed that in the long run shared understanding and wise use of available water resources can ensure water security and economic prosperity in the country. 

The deliberations taken place during the workshop will be followed by consultations at the national level and will be used to develop a robust and strategic Water Programme for Pakistan by IUCN and Oxfam Novib.

For more information or to set up interviews, please contact:
Saadullah Ayaz, Coordinator Climate Change/Clean Air, 
IUCN- Islamabad Programme Office
Tel: ++92 051 2271 027-034, 
Email: saad.ayaz@iucn.org
Web: http://www.iucn.org/pakistan
 http://iucn.org/about/union/secretariat/offices/asia/asia_where_work/pakistan/?11822/Political-dialogue-is-the-key-to-resolving-water-use-issues-amongst-Provinces
29 January 2013 | International news release

Agriculture faces danger as water scarcity looms large

FAISALABAD-Pakistan agriculture production may face severe setback in the years to come as the threat of water scarcity looms large, however, the promotion of cost-effective irrigation system and water storage capacity at the farm level could help fight the challenge.
This was suggested at a seminar titled “Reimaging Cost Recovery in Pakistan’s Indus Basin Irrigation System” arranged by Institute of Agri and Resource Economics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad. The session was chaired by UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad while Dr Andrew Bell, Research Fellow, IFPRI, USA was the guest of honor.
Dr Andrew Bell said that Pakistan has one of the largest gravity-fed irrigation system in the world. He said that the country lacks resources and low cost recovery. He said that surface water is more reliable and according to a survey in Punjab, a large number of farmers consider surface water more appropriate. He also coined the idea of developing a scale-able irrigation system with the consent of farming community so that the rational usage of water can be ensured for the irrigation purpose. He said that pumping of groundwater for irrigation is causing the salinity in the land. The UAF vice chancellor said it is prerequisite for making efficient use of natural as per modern trend by adopting latest techniques. He said that glaciers were melting drastically due to climate changes and after fifty years, the country would be left with the limited glaciers if tangible steps were not taken. “Keeping the issue in view, we have to save water for the coming generation,” he said. He also stressed a need for avoiding the food irrigation. He said excessive pumping of groundwater is also posing threat in term of groundwater availability. He said per capita water availability is only 1,000 cubic mete In Pakistan. 
Institute Director Dr Muhammad Ashfaq said that the country population was increasing. We have to use the natural resources rationally in order to provide the better future for the coming generation, he said.
WORKSHOP ON GSP PLUS: The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan organised a two-day CBI workshop which was attended by the representatives of different companies. 
The GSP Plus status given by the European Union to Pakistan was discussed at the workshop. TDAP Faisalabad Director Allah Dad Tarar made the welcome address.
CBI Expert Marcel Oosterveer and Ms Josephine Koopman Garment shared their thoughts in perspective of enhancing exports sector of Pakistan and elaborated reasons for the promotion of exports of Pakistan. Mr Marcel Oosterveer highlighted the importance of GSP Plus in the perspective of Pakistani industry while Ms Koopman made an introduction to the EU (Apparel) market. The objective of the training workshop was to enhance knowledge of the Pakistani entrepreneurs on GSP + and about the requirements of potentials to the European buyers. The experts also apprised the participants about the export possibilities and success rate of Pakistani companies in the European markets. 
The experts also presented comparison of the EU consumer market with China, USA and Pakistan and dilated on the fashion industry of France and Germany. SRO Director Madam Roubina Taufiq appreciated the efforts of CBI in the workshop.
Curtsey:The Nation, April 17, 2014

Water issue matter of life and death for Pak:Nizami

LAHORE Water issue has become a matter of life and death for Pakistan and if our rulers are unable to fulfill their responsibilities bestowed upon them by Allah Almighty and the nation, they should quit, said Majid Nizami, Chairman Nazria Pakistan Trust (NPT) and a leading Pakistan Movement activist while addressing a special sitting titled 'How to check the Indian water aggression organised by the NPT in collaboration with the Tehrik-e-Pakistan Workers Trust and Indus Water Treaty Council (IWTC) at the Aiwan-e-Karkunan Tehrik-e-Pakistan here on Monday.
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) ex-DG Hameed Gul was the chief guest of the sitting.
In recognition of his services to create awareness about the water problems arising in Pakistan from Indian aggression on water flowing from its side, the Council also presented Majid Nizami with a national award.
Giving a wake-up call on what India is doing with the water of Pakistan, Majid Nizami cautioned that further slumber on the issue would lead us to death from thirst.
India till date has not accepted Pakistans existence and is occupying Kashmir with an aim to end Pakistan, he said and added that Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had described Kashmir as jugular vein of Pakistan and with this view, had asked the Army Chief of the relevant time to enter forces in Kashmir, but his command was not obeyed.
Today excuse was being made that at that time our armed forces were not able to succeed in Kashmir, he said and maintained, The fact is, Gen Gracy had said that his supreme commander was in Delhi and he would obey him.
He alleged that it was a conspiracy of Hindus and English to restrain Pakistani forces from entering Kashmir.
He avowed that we failed to understand why the Quaid had termed Kashmir the lifeline of Pakistan.
Today we can well pick up the sense of his words when we are beset with the problems of water, he explained.
Nizami also demanded renaming the Indus Water Treaty Council as Pakistan Water Council.
Referring to the Council, he further said that this organisation alone could not do all when the rulers and the Opposition were quiet in the interest of staying in power.
Lt Gen (r) Hameed Gul stated that the world powers were after Pakistan as this state held a number of qualities and traits and for that matter they bisected Pakistan in 1971.
He called for nation building, predicting that the coming three years would be important in determining the actual importance of Pakistan in the world.
He recalled that under the Indus Water Treaty, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers were given to India when the fact was this (that) all canals originating from Head Marala irrigated a large portion of land and Chenab water catered to our strategic needs in addition to irrigating central Punjab.
But India has allegedly stopped water flow to Pakistan from Chenab.
India had also diverted the water flow of river Neelam, he added.
Gul opined that water problems be dealt seriously as well as the issue of Kashmir.
He said water security was an important issue, but more than that liberation of Kashmiris from Indian yoke was important.
IWTC Chairman Hafiz Zahoorul Hassan stated that big powers were rapidly aligning themselves for safeguarding their interests wherein Hindu and Zionists had been making a new alliance against Ummah.
He said that Hindus and Jews were conspiring to snatch oil, gas and water from Muslims.
He demanded of the UN and other international organisations to take notice of Indian water terrorism.
He stated that Pakistan was going to face economic crises due to shortage of water.
IWTC coordinator Yousaf Sarwar stated that Pakistan was facing water, energy and economic crisis nowadays.
He said that India had been doing conspiracy to render Pakistan barren since 1948.
IWTC Punjab Chairperson Fozia Amir said that our political parties should unite to solve the problem of water.
IWTC Punjab leader Habib Ullah Bhutta stated that Kashmir was major source of water for Pakistan therefore Kashmir was very important for us.
Council Jammu and Kashmir Chairman Syed Mudasar Bukhari said that purpose of Water Day was to create awareness about importance of water among the nations.
He said that India was constructing sixty-two dams in Kashmir.
IWC Balochistan President Prof Muhammad Ayaz stated that our agriculture would collapse completely due to lack of water.
Ciouncil NWFP President Shahid Mahmood Khan said today the cause of loadshedding was lack of water.
IWTC Sindh President Syed Waqas Hussain Shah stated that the problem of Pakistan was shortage of water and we were creating awareness among the people from the forum of IWC.
Council Punjab President Sardar Liaqat Ali Dogar said that government was ignoring Indian water aggression.
Advocate Fiaz Azeem said that problem of water should be raised not only in the UN but in the OIC as well.
Curtsey:The Nation, March 23, 2010

Indian water aggression or genocidal war
Suleman Najib Khan

This article includes reference to million acre-feet (MAF) and cubic kilometres (km3). Both of them are main units. The units of flow are cusecs (cubic feet/second) and cumecs in the metric system. MAF is simply one million acres covered by one foot of water. Roughly speaking, if you multiply by 1.2, the figure is converted to cubic kilometres. Even one cubic meter of water is no small measure. It is a thousand litters and weighs a ton. Incidentally, a hectare (ha) of land area is 2.5 acres. There are 10,000 square metres (sq.m) in a hectare. This means 100 hectares in a square kilometre (sq.km). So, a continuous flow of 1381c/s for one full year conveys 1 MAF or about 1.2 cubic kilometres.
Water scarcity and hydrologic scenario: 
A 65-year history of water aggression by India, the upper riparian, is genocide in slow motion. Pakistan’s surface flows in the Indus Basin System average I45 MAF annually. However, the Western nallahs/streams that flow basically during the monsoons and can average 5 to 10 MAF, depending on the wet or dry cycles, is not included. It seems that the water mined from underground aquifers, which is around 40 MAF annually, is not really a renewable resource. There is negligible rainwater harvesting in the northern zones of Pakistan. But the south, including Balochistan, is semi-arid or a desert. 
In comparison, the Indian federation although very secretive about its water data is, reportedly, having annual surface flows of 750 MAF in its main rivers. The figures for aquifer mining are not available. Since most of the northern, central, eastern and southern India is blessed with extensive precipitation, they have developed sophisticated rain harvesting methods; practiced in the entire northern rim highland states, as well as south India, where they refer to it as “tank irrigation”. Thus, it is a fallacy that Pakistan per capita water availability is close to the Indian average. 
According to my estimation, this may have been close to the truth in 1947, but the situation has deteriorated drastically for Pakistan. It is now close to one-third of the Indian average. This average is dramatically reduced for the end user when we consider the net availability from the reservoirs. Pakistan’s reservoirs have 8 percent storage capacity of their surface flows, while India is close to achieving 40 percent of its declared surface flows. My personal experience at the Closed door Conference on Kashmir Waters in New Delhi during July 2010 confirmed the views of Pakistani elders, including Engr B.A. Malik, Engr Chaudhry Mazhar Ali and late Syed Salar Kirmani. Pakistan has lost or given away or simply been cheated of its water rights every time there has been a face-off with the Indians. Perhaps, the Indians worship a water god, while we have been historically callous. The Indians want an IWT— 2, as they have the network to support them. But we need to finally wake up!
India’s water aggression: 
Surely, the Indians influenced a section of our bureaucracy through their clearly identified agents. This ongoing tragedy cannot be reversed without taking a gigantic step. 
Firstly, the realisation that we as a nation have been the victim of a massive conspiracy with respect to our hydro endowment and, in tandem, the attrition of our irrigated agricultural capability. The military occupation of Kashmir was the start of the Indian Water Aggression (IWA) strategy in connivance and with full support of the imperial power. In brief, the IWA strategy was not fully comprehended by our intelligentsia, and the issue was and still remains clouded by religious overtones. Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s warning was not understood just as the nation ignored his caution note on the activities of the fifth column. 
Secondly, is the periodic stage-wise progress of the IWA strategy! The period 1946-1960 was consolidation of the military occupation of Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the implementation of the inhuman and unprecedented policy of taking the entire flow of the three Punjab rivers (Ravi, Beas and Sutlej). The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) signed on September 19, 1960, was a terrible tragedy for West Punjab and the nation in general. Of the 33 MAF average annual flows, the historic share of West Punjab was 27 MAF that was reduced to about 26 MAF at the time of the treaty. Effectively, Pakistan had lost close to 20 percent of its surface flows till eternity. Mr G. Mueenuddin, Pakistan’s head of the lndus Waters Delegation, was no match for India’s hydro expert Mr N.D. Gauhati. A reading of Engr B.A. Malik’s Indus Waters Treaty in Retrospect (IWTR) published in 2005 is an accurate account of the genesis of this cruel treaty. Then the Indians knew and now have proved that Pakistan is in no position to violate the IWT 1960. 
As the lower riparian, Pakistan was expected to “beg for water” using the exact statement of the Indian establishment when they shut off the Lahore Canal using the Madhopur Headworks on the Ravi and the Depalpur Canal using the Ferozepur Headworks on the Sutlej. There is no logical phenomenon whereby Pakistan can transgress and cheat under the IWT 1960. The period from 1960 to 1971 was spent in the Indian obsession to trash “the Two Nation Theory” and their conspiratorial role became clear when their military forces joined the civilian uprising in former East Pakistan. The Indians have orchestrated the anti-KBD movement since then, culminating in several so-called democratic interventions by their agents and friends. Professor John Briscoe’s thesis, War or Peace on the Indus, based on his book, entitled Pakistan’s Water Economy Running Dry, confirms all the apprehensions of David E. Lilienthal’s report of August 1951 prepared on the instructions of President Harry S. Truman. Here are some extracts: 
“Why the flow of the Punjab’s lifeblood was so carelessly handled in the partition no one seems to know. Pakistan includes some of the most productive food-growing lands in the world in western Punjab (the Kipling country) and the Sind. But without ‘water for irrigation’ this would be a desert. 20,000,000 acres would dry up in a week, tens of millions would starve. No army, with bombs and shellfire, could devastate a land as thoroughly as Pakistan could be devastated by the simple expedient of India’s permanently shutting off the sources of water that keep the fields and the people of Pakistan alive.” 
“The partition gave the major part of the irrigated lands of the Punjab and Sind to Pakistan; but the headwaters of some of the largest irrigation canals that feed Pakistan were left with India or Kashmir. All the rivers upon which Pakistan depends for life originate in India or Kashmir. Two thirds of the entire water supply originates in Kashmir where the snow-fed Indus rises.”
Strategising water issues and a possible response: 
The tools at Pakistan’s disposal are woefully inadequate. Every encounter on the hydro front has ended in defeat. Yes, there were technical retreats by the upper riparian, but in good time they succeeded to either steal our endowment or block our progress on the irrigation assets. I calculate they have inflicted an economic loss of over a trillion USD equivalent by blocking Pakistan’s mega dams and its tributaries after 1974. Today the KBD project, acknowledged by world experts as the best hydro project site in Asia and, probably, in the world, stands blocked, while the Pak nation is told that “consensus” is required. The upstream Diamer Basha Dam (DBD) is redesigned as a virtual alternate to KBD and in the process becomes an extremely dangerous and unsafe structure. The belligerents expect that this would be a double blow to Pakistan’s economy and, in fact, make its existence highly precarious. 
A light RCC dam structure with an unprecedented 271 meters height storing water behind a dam crest level of 1,160 meters asl. Can anyone imagine the destructive force of over 10 cubic kilometres of water hurtling down from nearly 3,900 ft altitude? Late Dr Butt has described this doomsday scenario in his 2004 letters to General Musharraf. Is anyone listening? The October 8, 2005, earthquake in the northern areas and the May 12, 2008, reservoir-induced earthquake in Sichuan cannot be forgotten. Has anyone ever opposed or even identified the Machiavellian tactics employed by the Indians in creating the historical nexus between the World Bank’s Kashmir policy and our northern areas?
The Indian ICID menace and the consortium of traitors:
There is no answer to the Indian ICID and here lies the administrative fault line in Pakistan. Punjab since a few years has been excluded from the Indus Waters Treaty issues, although it is the most affected one by Indian transgressions. IRSA may not be controlled by one province. Both TP and CJ link canals are vital for South Punjab share. Above all, an organisation has to be created overnight to understand, analyse and respond to the Indian transgressions in IHK. Internally, this organisation must be able to educate the people of Pakistan about the hydro truths. The deliberate and treacherous misinterpretations of IWT 1960 cannot be allowed. The Indians desire for an IWT-2 is not acceptable. An overdue fight back must start since the dangers to Pakistan’s existence are clearly appreciated. Here are the recent Indian moves and the deadly signals from Pakistan’s consortium of traitors.
i    India presses ahead with its 129 HPP and reservoirs projects in IHK. At least 42 on the three western rivers and their tributaries are already in operation. Another 14 are under construction and 115 in advanced stages of planning and design.
i    Why does India build dams when low-level rivers and tunnels could be more suitable for the run-of-the-river (ROR) power stations? The sediment problem would also be solved.
i    India accelerates its activities in IHK. The shifting of the spillway allowed the Indian manipulative storage at Baghliar I to be 164,000AF, instead 60,000AF that is a gross violation of Annexure C.
i    IRSA’s working is completely disturbed and now controlled by Mr Kamal Majidullah. Earlier General Musharraf had allowed that the 5th  member will also be from Sindh. Later, he ordered that the IRSA Chairman will always be from Sindh.
i    Punjab is now excluded from all treaty matters. Mr Majidullah, a lawyer and friend of the President, is leading this campaign against Punjab.
i    Today, Punjab is told that the Indus River is only for Sindh. They do not permit operation of the CJ and TP link canals during the critical months from April to June (Kharif period), and also between October to March. When a Balochistan member supported Punjab on (February 13, 2010) his services were terminated. Ex-Senator Marvi Memon, daughter of Nisar Memon, also opposed the CJ operation (tail-end) at the outfall into Jhelum during her Senate Committee tenure.
i    The Indus Commissioner has to tour the entire Indus Basin every five years.
i    The consortium of traitors disregards the violation of Annexure C para (9), Annexure D para 15 (iii) and Annexure E para (10). More so, India has made a joke of Article III. However, no one complains about the Hudiara drain and other nallahs under Article IV.

The writer is a freelance columnis
Curtsey:The News, March 09, 2012

Thursday, September 19, 2013 - Lahore—Due to the excessive use of aquifer in Lahore, it is feared that the city could face asevere dearth of potable water by 2020, says a senior official of the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA).

He told Pakistan Observer that the water table in Lahore had dropped by 60 feet between 1993 and 2012. He said the average drop was about three to five feet per year, which could increase in the coming years with the expanding population of the city.

He said the average water table decrease in Ichhra and Kot Lakhpat Industrial Area was six feet, while in Gulberg and Township, it was five feet per year. “In Green Town and Garden Town, the drop is four feet per year, while in Samanabad, Islampura, Mozang, Allama Iqbal Town, Shimla Hill and Misri Shah, it is 3.5 feet per year,” he added.

The official said that WASA was pumping out around 360 million gallons of water against the demand of about 400 million gallons per day. He said WASA had to install more tubewells to overcome the shortage of 40 million gallons of water. 

He added that in many localities, tubewells were being installed at a depth of 300 feet and 800 feet to meet the water requirement. “This is leading to a further decrease in the underground water table,” he said. The official said that more than 300,000 people were facing a shortage of potable water. He stressed the need for an action plan for efficient development, utilisation and monitoring of the water resources.

Moeen-ud-Din Shah, a renowned researcher in potable water, said Punjab plain covers about 51 Million acres of land, forms a part of Indus Plain- underlain by a large and contiguous groundwater reservoir. He said the major source of groundwater recharge are the rainfall, seepage from the large irrigation system, rivers and some return flow from the groundwater pumped and used for irrigation. “The water table is constantly decreasing across the province and the government has failed to take a solid step to maintain water level,” adding he said at least the government could create awareness among the people about the scarcity of water and urge them to use potable water sagaciously. “However, no such campaign has ever been launched by the government,” he said 

He said at least 35 percent of households in urban Punjab have private electric groundwater pumps. He further said the costs of decentralised water access could be several times the cost of a centralised efficient water system. Because of dynamic inefficiency, water was being depleted for future generations.

National Engineering Services Pakistan (Pvt) Limited (NESPAK) senior engineer Khalid Zaman Gull told Pakistan Observer that people wasted water by not switching off their electric water pumps after the water tanks are filled,” he said.

A WASA official said the Punjab government had allocated 7,200 kanals to WASA for a wastewater treatment plant. He said the only short-run solution of water shortage in Lahore was to start work on the water treatment project to bring clean water back to Lahore.

Another official said WASA had planned the construction of four wastewater treatment plants for the city. He said thedetailed design and tender documents for the construction of four wastewater treatment plants were ready, but the implementation of the projects had been delayed due to a lack of funds.
Curtsey:Pakistan Observer,

Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar has warned that the province is likely to suffer an acute water shortage in the next few years.
Sarwar, addressing an award ceremony of Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce, said that that extortion and kidnapping cases are taking place in Punjab whereas the gas shortage has become worse. “An acute water shortage is likely to take place in Punjab which will make people forget the power crisis,” he added.
Curtsey:Pakistan Today, OCTOBER 1, 2014 BY ONLINE

Photo: Kamila Hyat/IRIN,Pools of raw sewage along a street in Lahore
LAHORE, 12 July 2007 (IRIN) - Urban water quality in Pakistan has deteriorated dangerously over the past decade and the country’s most heavily populated province, the Punjab, is at risk, say specialists. 

In Lahore, capital of the Punjab, east Pakistan, leaking sewage pipes are allowing dirty water to seep into drinking water pipes, causing an increase in water-borne diseases. 

Each day Shakila Aslam steps outside her Lahore home, she must tread carefully. Treacherously slippery, sewage-soaked mud greets her. Broken sewage lines leave huge pools of filthy water on the road and a stench lingers across the area. 

“It is very difficult for the children to get to school and college or to go to the shops,” says Shakila, 40. 

Shakila lives with her four children in the Shah Jamal area of Lahore, a residential area made up of large bungalows and much smaller houses. 

The leaking sewage pipes in the area are the result of recent work to lay new lines. A spokesman for WASA (Water and Sanitation Agency), which is carrying out the project, told IRIN: “They will be completed very soon”. 

In a report released in February 2007, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said 20-40 percent of “people in hospitals [in Pakistan] are suffering from water-borne diseases - gastroenteritis, typhoid, cholera, dysentery… and other serious diseases”. The report said every third Pakistani “drinks unsafe water”.

Arsenic, flouride 

Japanese and US experts are currently investigating high arsenic levels in major cities in the Punjab, including Lahore and Faisalabad, the provinces’ second largest city with a population of 2.6 million people.

In the summer of 2006, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and its local partners began a programme in Rahim Yar Khan District in the southern Punjab to identify water sources laced with arsenic and raise awareness about its presence. Arsenic is thought to leach into water from rocks and soil in many areas of the Punjab. 

Since the mid-1990s, there has also been concern about bone deformities caused by contaminated water. In the village of Kalalanwala on the outskirts of Lahore, dozens of children were found with spinal and joint problems in 1998. The problem, which has also been seen in other parts of the Punjab, has been blamed on excessive fluoride in the ground water. 

Experts have also warned that the leaching of pesticides and industrial effluent into the ground water is poisoning sources. 

“We are dealing with bacterial and chemical contamination of ground water in an integrated manner here,” said Deepak Bajracharya, the UNICEF provincial chief for the Punjab. 

Gastroenteritis 

According to the WWF, 250,000 child deaths each year are a result of water-borne diseases. Many mothers know what this means in real terms. 

“I lost my eight-month-old baby boy in August 2005. He developed gastroenteritis and died in my arms. The doctors could do nothing,” says Uzma Javed, 24. She said she could “never forget” the suffering of her child and “fears all the time” for her three-month-old baby. 

Deaths due to gastroenteritis, acute diarrhoea or other water-borne illnesses rise each year during the summer, as water consumption increases, scarcity worsens and rains contribute to flooded sewage channels which often flow into clean water supplies. 

Since April this year, at least 19 people are reported to have died of gastroenteritis in the southern province of Sindh, which faces an acute water shortage. At least three other deaths have been reported in other parts of the country and at least 6,000 people have been admitted to hospitals countrywide suffering from this condition. 

Early in June, a rise in gastroenteritis cases was reported in Lahore, with at least 70 people said to have been visiting hospitals daily. 

Boiled water 

Inamul Haq, executive district officer for health, said the government had “set up a special unit to teach people how to avoid gastroenteritis and other such diseases”. 

Photo: IRIN

Adding to the Lahore's pollution problem is an increase in water-borne diseases

The authorities consistently urge the population to boil drinking water. However, according to many families that is easier said than done. 

“I have four children under 12, plus my husband and sick mother-in-law. Everyone drinks water around the clock in summer. It is almost impossible to boil and then cool it in sufficient quantities,” said Mahmoona Ahsan, who lives in the Mughulpura area of Lahore. 

Like many households in the country, Mahmoona’s family does not own a refrigerator and relies on blocks of ice bought from the market to cool water. 

“Who knows what water they use,” says Mahmoona, who says she is aware of the risks of contaminated water, but is “helpless”. 

Efforts by the government to set up water purification plants have as yet had only a limited impact. 

Per capita water availability 

In its 2006-2007 Economic Survey the government of Pakistan said only “66 percent of the people in Pakistan have access to clean water”. The growing scarcity of water and contamination of existing sources was a major problem, it said. 

Per capita water availability in Pakistan has slumped from 5,000 cubic metres (cu. m.) in 1951 to 1,100 cu. m. The World Bank defines “water-stressed” as those having 1,000 cu. m. of less.
Originally Published in www.irnnews.org
Read at source: http://www.irinnews.org/report/73205/pakistan-contaminated-water-a-threat-to-millions-in-punjab

» 06/23/2015
PAKISTAN

Pope Francis' encyclical to combat Pakistan’s water shortage 
by Kamran Chaudhry

In Sindh province the emergency is very real: last year 316 children died because of drought. Fr. Renato Zecchin, superior of the Jesuits in the country, hopes that “Laudato sì" will push the government "to draw on the resources of the monsoon and use the natural gifts we have." In Lahore a pastor will plant 10 thousand trees with his students.


Hyderabad (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis’  “Laudato sì”"raises the serious question of water scarcity in Pakistan, and in particular in our diocese", says Msgr. Samson Shukardin, bishop of Hyderabad, commenting on the encyclical during Sunday Mass on 21 June in the Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier.
The newly appointed bishop noted that the situation will worsen in future in the southern Sindh province. “Already 316 children have died in drought hit Tharparkar district last year. Being a Franciscan, I will soon form a separate commission on ecology (which is a part of my spirituality) and work it along the lines of Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation”, he told Asia News.
Franciscans, capuchins, Society of St. Columban and Jesuits are among the few congregations that deal with environment issues in Pakistan. Caritas Pakistan, which released the pontiff encyclical on June 18 in Pakistan, also established a Climate Change desk this March with focal persons in all the seven dioceses.
Father Renato Zeechin, the Jesuit superior in Pakistan also quoted from the pope's encyclical urging “solutions to man-made problems” in June 21 mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral of Lahore. “The pontiff presented the Church’s point of view pretty well. It is interesting even for the Islamic scholars. Catholic Bishops' Conference of Pakistan should use this great opportunity to engage Muslims in the common cause of saving the planet”, said Father Renato who has been running Magis Pakistan, a group of 90 youngsters for six years.
“Ecology and Justice is a major theme of our monthly talks. For Pakistan, one of the questions is water; it is a common sight to see queues of people holding empty cans at the filter points. Very few people use tap water for drinking. The encyclical is a call for government authorities to tap its monsoon resources and use the natural gifts we have.”
The message also inspired Father Qaiser Feroz to initiate a massive plantation drive in Lahore. “We shall plant 10,000 saplings when the schools reopen in August after summer vacations. Students from four schools and each of the 5000 families in my parish will plant trees”, said parish priest of St. Joseph Church who was transferred from port city of Karachi about six months ago.
“People in (Karachi) biggest city of the country have to pay water storage tanks to fulfill their needs. The stored water usually lasts for a week though. My heart pains to see the amount of water wasted in slums of Punjab, the most populous province. It is time the authorities think about just distribution of water in the country”.
Source: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pope-Francis'-encyclical-to-combat-Pakistan%E2%80%99s-water-shortage-34592.html

Both sides will have to rise above politics and focus on the water crisis, which requires difficult and bitter solutions.
As the long hot summer sizzles, one's thoughts in Lahore and Amritsar turn to water. It is scarce on both sides of the border. When the British finally and fully took over the Punjab in 1849, their thoughts turned to the possibility of engineering for agriculture. In the 1860s, they built the first canal in the Gurdaspur-Amritsar area. During 1880-1920, they built the great canal colonies, in west Punjab. Life-giving water was spread over the Baars, pushing back forever the great story of herdsman Ranjha and the peerless Heer. The open scrub lands dotted with Kikar and lusty rivers were replaced with wheat and cotton fields, and vast citrus gardens. The graziers disappeared. Sikh farmers having little land in the impoverished east went west, and by the 1930s, they became fat and prosperous zamindars. Sadly, just when the fruits were coming, they were pushed back east.
The political battle of the 1940s was also a battle for land. Someone told me in Lahore once “we are land rich.” They added to their holdings, howsoever. In the east, Tarlok Singh, ICS, devised the graded cut for Nehru to settle far too many farmers, on much less land. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Punjabis, helped with cooperative loans, sank nine lakh shallow tubewells, built the Bhakra, and created the Green Revolution. I remember in my Amritsar village, sweet water was available at just 15 feet in the well; by our land passed a small canal, perfectly designed by the British. In summer, we grew green, sweet-smelling lucerne and other fodders, and the buffaloes yielded plenty of milk. In west Punjab, the farmers did not share the land bounty fairly. The few at the top took the most. But still in their skewed farm sociology, they prospered with good harvests, more citrus orchards and plenty of water to waste.
In the new century, all this changed. In 1960, Jawaharlal Nehru and Ayub Khan signed the Indus Waters Treaty in Karachi, mediated by World Bank president Eugene Black. For 50 years, this worked well for both Punjabs. Both built the Bhakra, the Beas, and the Tarbela dams, and expanded irrigation. My Punjab added nine lakh tubewells through cooperatives. The other Punjab failed with the public sector tubewells, and remains largely dependent on canal water.
Sixty years have drastically reduced the comfort of 1950 on both sides. In Pakistan, the population growth from 50 million to 175 million has put an unacceptable burden. This has reduced the water availability per capita, per year, from 5,000 cubic feet in 1960 to 1,500 today. In our Punjab too, the population has increased over 60 years but at a lesser rate. In 1947, in east Punjab, 6,000 cubic metres of potable water was available per person, per year. Now it is only 1,600 cubic metres. It is estimated to fall further to 1,147 cubic metres in 2050. However, the nine lakh shallow tubewells now dangle dry. The rich have started digging deep to 300 ft or more with submersible pumps to grab water. Small farmers who predominate cannot afford the cost and their wells are drying up. One deep tubewell will dry up a hundred around it. The water table has gone far down, and this situation will lead to social tension. We read every day that 95 per cent of east Punjab's development blocks are in the grey area, for tubewells. In southern Punjab, and some other pockets, the underground water, in any case, is salty. West Punjab too faces these grave questions.
As a child I went to Sargodha in west Punjab to stay in the new lands. The land, the cattle and the people smiled. Now I read of Ghanzafar Ali, a farmer in Chak 95, Sargodha, and his woes. He says the water crisis means life and death to him. He does not get his regular supply. He cannot grow fodder and the cattle starve in summer. There are extended closures of the canal. According to him, the crisis is in the entire State, but particularly bad in Sargodha-Faislabad. He worries about the weather changes, and laments, “we are tied to river water, dams, rainfall and tubewells. You take away the river water, and this place will turn into a wilderness it once was.” This is what Calvert, ICS, warned of in 1928 in his classic book, The Wealth and Welfare of the Punjab. In Lahore, aggressive leaders challenge the IWT and accuse India of not being fair. Swiss arbitrators are brought in to adjudicate. The Americans with their satellite studies have recently put out ominous reports, of severe and steady groundwater depletion, in both Punjabs, and western Uttar Pradesh. In a convocation address at the Punjab Agriculture University in Ludhiana on November 5, 1998, I warned that there would be a crisis and tension within and without on the question of water. We see it already and I worry about the situation 10 years hence with more population, more demands, more anxiety and hysteria.
What should the two Punjabs do? What should my Punjab do? I know we will have to rise above, and beyond, politics and focus on the crisis, which requires difficult and bitter solutions. Scientific solutions exist, and more can be found. But they will have to be applied with a will, and firmness, over long periods, to make any visible difference. As Development Commissioner, Punjab, from 1985 to 1988, I visualised that the time had come to license and regulate tubewell sinking, including the permissible depth. All must share fairly, and not take the maximum, by means of wealth and power. I also felt that it was very easy, in the computer age, to monitor all nine lakh tubewells all the time to know the depletion and recharge; to be able to plan and administer the fair share and use of groundwater. I would appoint a High Commissioner, for Ground Water Management, for the Punjab, with full scientific staff, and powers, reporting only to the Chief Minister. He should also present an annual detailed written report to the Assembly. A more balanced crop plan has to be insisted upon. I had said in Ludhiana that the Punjab is not a great agriculture State. It is only a grain growing factory, and factories have lockouts. We are facing one now.
In our Punjab, we faced an unprecedented crisis when far too many people returned from the west to be settled on too little of poor quality land. We created a new Punjab which, since 1966, has been providing the surplus for the country to avoid imports. If we face up to this new crisis, in the new century, we can certainly overcome it. Like Israel, let us use the full scientific knowledge of the world to lay out an efficient system of water usage. Our British canals are in a state of collapse and flood irrigation will not do. We also need to have a more balanced crop regime. This requires revival of the Punjab Agricultural University and making it efficient. As for my friends in west Punjab, they should, as their Foreign Minister said, stop wasting 40 per cent of the canal water, rely on their collective will and effort, and not allow people to mislead them with the comfort that they have no shortcomings and that others are to blame. Both Punjabs should face up to the water crisis, with courage and steady application of science. Else, they will be in trouble which won't go away.
Curtsey:The Hindu, May 29,2010

Anti-Punjab resentment rising

The extent to which the ongoing crisis of water in the country is placing a strain on already tense relations between the Pakistan federation and its component units was brought home vividly at a recent seminar in Lahore.
By Abdullah Iqbal

The extent to which the ongoing crisis of water in the country is placing a strain on already tense relations between the Pakistan federation and its component units was brought home vividly at a recent seminar in Lahore.

At the seminar, with political and social activists from across the country in attendance, it became clear that many people believed that the biggest province of Punjab was "stealing water" and aggravating the situation for the smaller provinces, especially Sindh and Balochistan.

The seminar, titled the 'water crisis and means of escaping drought' was organised by a local non-government organisation and spread over several days. For the first time, many social activists from outside Punjab attended it.

"Here, in Lahore, we see that fountains are on and ponds stand filled to the brim in parks, while in the Ghotki area of Sindh where I come from, our children have never seen water in an irrigation channel," said Sikander Lakhero.

A similar degree of resentment and anger was evident in the views put forward by others from Sindh, where it is estimated that at least 50 per cent of the wheat and rice crop has already been destroyed. Though some rain fell in parts of Punjab last week, it has been insufficient to tackle the water crisis or ease the impact of the drought.

The announcement by the Punjab governor that the Punjab would "strongly oppose" a federal proposal to allocate more water to Sindh, where a food crisis loomed, has given rise to further anger. Many in Sindh are convinced Punjab has already obtained more than its fair share of water.

"The situation is so critical that a very real fear of civil strife arises. This should not be dismissed as mere panic raising," said Ali Hassan, the vice chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan for Sindh. Others too have warned that the drought has led to acute tensions between the provinces and a worsening of the situation between them.

Whereas this state of affairs will need to be addressed by government policy-makers, the fact also remains that aside from federal tensions, the drought threatens a food crisis of immense proportions for the country as a whole. 

Farmers attending the seminar from Jhang and Faisalabad areas of Punjab also spoke of this. "In the Jhang agricultural heartland, acres of planted wheat have wilted, and there is no water running through the irrigation channels," said Ayaz Mohammad. Though the government has attempted to calm mounting panic by pledging the situation will be "looked after", it is not clear how this will be attained. 
Curtsey: gulfnews.com, April 3, 2001

In the wake of little or no rainfall during this year’s monsoon season, the inflow of water has considerably reduced. nt and not resource availability. STOCK IMAGE
SUKKUR: With little or no rainfall in the catchment area to fill up the Tarbela Dam, a severe water crisis seems to be looming large.
While there is little water being stored, the amount of water that is discharged to growers is ever-increasing, leaving even less water in the storage.
This crisis will not only affect growers of crops, but also the electric power generation. In the wake of little or no rainfall during this year’s monsoon season, the inflow of water has considerably reduced. On top of that, more water is being discharged in the downstream to meet the needs of the farmers.
According to a weather advisory issued by the Pakistan Meteorological Department, heavy rains are likely to continue over north-east Punjab and its adjoining areas during the next 72 hours, which might result in serious flooding of the Jhelum, Ravi and Sutlej rivers and their tributaries.
Sources in the irrigation department told The Express Tribune that heavy rainfall taking place in different parts of Punjab has resulted in the flooding of its eastern rivers, including Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej. This will likely add 200,000 to 250,000 cusecs of water in the Indus that is badly needed for flushing away the tonnes of silt that have settled in the barrages.
This water will be sufficient for the flushing operation, but heavy rains are needed in the catchment areas to fill the Tarbella Dam to its full capacity of 1,550 feet. In case of no rainfall taking place in the catchment areas during this month, growers of Sindh will have to brace for at least 50 per cent water shortage during the upcoming Rabi season which will eventually affect the Rabi crops, including wheat.
Sukkur Barrage control room in-charge Abdul Aziz Soomro said that currently, the pond level at the Tarbela Dam was 1,534 feet with an inflow of 97,000 cusecs and outflow of 135,000 cusecs. According to him, the Kabul River was flowing with 18,000 cusecs of water, while the upstream at Kalabagh was 126,000 cusecs and the downstream was 118,000 cusecs. At Chashmsa barrage, the upstream was 166,000 cusecs and downstream was 165,000 cusecs, while at Taunsa barrage, the upstream was 154,000 cusecs and the downstream was 127,000 cusecs. The upstream at Guddu barrage was 121,000 cusecs and the downstream was 95,000 cusecs.
He added that the upstream at Sukkur barrage is 83,000 cusecs and the downstream is 30,000 cusecs, while at the Kotri barrage, the upstream is 29,000 cusecs and only 3,000 cusecs water is being released in its downstream.
According to Soomro, last year on September 4, the upstream at Sukkur barrage was more than 250,000 cusecs while today it is only 83,000 cusecs. Because of this shortage, silt cannot be flushed out of the right and left pockets of the barrage.
“We need 250,000 cusecs or more of water to flush out the tonnes of silt settled in the downstream,” he said, adding that he was optimistic that the eastern rivers in Punjab will add 200,000 to 250,000 cusecs in the Indus, which will help in the flushing operation.
If no rains take place in the catchment areas during this month, he said that he was foreseeing a 25 per cent water shortage during the early Rabi season starting from October 1. The shortage might stretch to more than 50 per cent by the seasons end around March 31, he added.                                                        
  Published in The Express Tribune, September 6th, 2014.

By David Lepeska 

Mallah fisherman gather at Zero Point, a popular fishing spot in Pakistan's Badin District. Photo: David Lepeska
Water taps choke and spit. Irrigation canals dry up, shrinking farm output and making food scarce. Suddenly, fallow regions are depopulated as villagers migrate to urban areas. Blackouts and drinking water shortages hit Karachi and Lahore. Hungry, thirsty, desperate peoples jostle - violence surges. Pakistan falls apart.
As water becomes increasingly scarce across Pakistan, this apocalyptic scenario is not far from what experts envision.
“The very sustainability of Pakistan as an independent nation may be at stake, as shortages could lead to increased social discontent and disharmony amongst the federation and the provinces,” a May 2008 World Bank report on Pakistani infrastructure warned.
With a population expected to shoot from today’s 170 million to 220 million by 2015, the country’s already weak water storage capacity will become woefully inadequate in the very near future. The problem is particularly acute in a developing nation that relies on water not only for drinking and agricultural production, but also for energy. Pakistan is already facing a 4,000 MW power shortage and will likely require several hydroelectric plants to satisfy demand.
Speaking in late April at a conference on the water crisis in Lahore, Sindh Water Council Chairman Hafiz Zahoor ul Hassan Dahir said a lack of water could devastate the country.
“Pakistan could become Somalia or Ethiopia,” he said.
In 2007, the World Bank listed Pakistan among 17 nations facing acute water shortages and noted that the country had used up nearly all of its surface water and groundwater. Indeed, nearly half the population have no local access to safe drinking water. One quarter of irrigated farmland suffers from acute salinity.
“Unless plans are put in place urgently,” the World Bank report concluded, “these critical shortages will continue to undermine the efforts to improve socio-economic indicators and to reduce poverty.”
But which plans, or more accurately, whose? The bank has put forth several ideas, and the government is discussing at least two mega dams. Various independent experts and nongovernmental organizations have countered with smaller, community-based water storage and usage schemes. But as Pakistan works to achieve a bright, democratic future, none has received widespread approval. The hesitation may be warranted.
If at first you don’t succeed…
Pakistan’s recent history of World Bank water projects is less than stellar.
After $1 billion and 13 years of construction between 1984 and 1997, the Left Bank Outfall Drain collapsed under storm surges in 1999 and again in 2003. The LBOD project was financed by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Saudi Fund for Development and U.K. Department for International Development, among others, and implemented by the Pakistani government. It preceded the World Bank’s National Drainage Program, which mostly failed to undo the damage. Progress reports and a bank-led investigation found that the poorly designed canal had irrevocably damaged the fragile ecosystem of the coastal estuaries, failed to benefit most local groups, and made life more difficult for the poorest of the poor.
More recently, a $130 million emergency rehabilitation project for an aging reservoir called the Taunsa Barrage, also backed by the World Bank and executed by Islamabad, led to forced displacements without adequate compensation, severe river erosion and a wall breach that killed several villagers. Locals are pushing for an independent commission to examine the failures and provide reparations.
Even the Tarbela dam, widely touted as a success, has its faults.
Completed in 1976 and located some 50 kilometers up the Indus River from Islamabad, the Tarbela dam has effectively stored water for agricultural use for some 30 years.  It has reduced seasonal flooding, but also severely curtailed downstream water supply: The flow of the mighty Indus River, which supplies 90 percent of Pakistan’s water, fell to one-fifteenth of what it was in 1947, according to the Water and Power Development Authority of Pakistan, or WAPDA. Further, the waters of the Indus carry a great deal of silt. Bank and government experts agree that within three years, the Tarbela dam will become useless because its reservoir will have filled completely with sediment.
Other water projects have faced problems from the start, including a plan approved in 1953 to create a new dam in northwest Punjab’s Kalabagh district.
Design and paperwork for Kalabagh’s dam were completed in 1984. Construction was set to begin with United Nations Development Program assistance, World Bank supervision and WAPDA execution.
Then the real trouble began. Sindh legislators worried that the construction of the dam, occurring far upstream in the Punjab province - which contains more than half of Pakistan’s population and is considered the country’s bread basket - would curtail water supply. Two other provinces, Balochistan and Northwest Frontier Province, soon joined the chorus with the former alleging rule by Punjab fiat and the latter downplaying the project’s anticipated benefit. In 2005, President Pervez Musharraf overruled the objections and declared the government would go ahead with the project. But construction had not begun when a new government was voted into office this February. Some 55 years after it was conceived, the Kalabagh dam exists only on paper as Pakistan’s water crisis deepens.
Despite these hiccups, in late April, the World Bank announced it would spend $8 billion on the construction of the Daimer-Bhasha dam, as well as two related Indus River projects at $500 million each. The offer represents one of the bank’s largest single country loans - to a nation with a poor track record for mega-development projects.
Bigger may not be better
Why have these large projects repeatedly disappointed? There’s enough blame to go around.
“The state is culpable, the multilaterals are culpable of reproducing the failure time and again,” said Assim Sajjad Akhtar, history professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences and a leader of the People’s Rights Movement, a left-wing political group. “You have a very deeply entrenched bureaucracy, and their planning conception is very colonial, paternalistic, top-down; if you try to give advice, you’re not helping, you’re committing sedition.”
Projects are designed in a very shortsighted manner, as illustrated by the impending Tarbela dam failure, Akhtar said. The government rarely makes design plans public or explains how funds are being spent, he added, and the resulting constructions are often faulty and spur discontent among locals.
“The World Bank, Asian Development Bank, all the donors refuse to accept that they are somewhat responsible for what happens,” Akhtar said. “They are the ones who describe this whole development and liberalization paradigm as interconnected. But whenever they fail, they say it’s not their responsibility.”
Development analyst Syed Mohammad Ali, a fellow at the Open Society Institute, put it this way: “When you go for mega-projects, you have mega-squandering.”
The World Bank offered a laundry list of Pakistani shortcomings in a May 2008 report: a lack of adequate education and skills training; a lack of government commitment, vision, planning and budgeting ability; corrupt contracting procedures; no protection against adverse physical conditions or external processes; delays in payment and absence of credit; and unfair competition from government-linked contractors and consultants.
Ayesha Siddiqa, visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, argued that the real machinations occur behind the scenes and that Pakistani farmers have been completely removed from shaping policy. According to Siddiqa, politicians and bureaucrats do not much care whether projects succeed.
“The whole thing is political,” Siddiqa said, citing the example of Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s foreign minister and a former Farmer’s Association of Pakistan leader.
“Instead of putting him in charge of agriculture, they put him in charge of foreign policy,” she noted. “There’s a great gap between growers and policy, between rural and urban populations, and those gaps will only be narrowed once the government realizes there is a problem.”
Stemming the crisis
To Akhtar, the solution is obvious.
“Don’t do big projects, do small projects,” he said.
Small, community-led projects are more cost-effective, he argued, as well as more ecologically sustainable and less divisive.
The water minister of neighboring India has expressed similar views.
“The era of big dams is over,” Saifuddin Soz told the Indian Express in late May. “We should have small dams and try and do something on rainwater harvesting and recharging groundwater.”
Pakistan faces a more severe water crisis than India, but the minister’s views are relevant.
If the mega-projects were to continue, program managers should take into greater consideration the needs of affected residents, Akhtar suggested.
“Large projects can only work if the state actually does it [sic] in a manner where people are not looked at simply as objects to be transformed,” he said. “They have to be the end, not the means.”
Siddiqa takes more of a macro approach to improving water management.
“The problem with this government: It doesn’t have a clear-cut agenda,” she said. “To begin with, they have to define their plan to develop the rural areas, one that appreciates the gaps in the Pakistan economy and seeks to bridge them.”
Projects should include lining all canals to prevent water seepage and switching from flood irrigation to the drip-sprinkle approach Israel uses, Siddiqa said. To break the industrialists’ monopoly, farmers should shift away from cash crops. Siddiqa acknowledged such efforts would be costly, but said that returns would validate the expense.
Ali, the development researcher, recommended a more holistic approach that takes into account local needs and seasonal river flows, government capabilities and donors efforts.
The panel that investigated the failure of the World Bank’s LBOD and National Drainage Program seems to agree.
Its report “highlights the need to take a holistic view of water and drainage systems to ensure risks are identified and assessed and harm to people and the natural environment minimized,” panel chair Edith Brown Weiss said upon the report’s release in 2006. “We trust that the bank’s action plan will be implemented in close consultation with affected people.”
But the bank appears to have other ideas. Despite identifying a long list of inadequacies with Pakistan’s capacity to build and sustain the country’s infrastructure, the bank suggested in a recent report that Pakistan “needs to establish frameworks under which it will deliver say Bhasha, Kalabagh, Karachi Mass Transit, or other large infrastructure projects and procure teams based on ‘framework’ agreements.”
Thus, the World Bank, which employs some of the most well-educated and skilled development experts, is counting on a series of working agreements between designers, builders and suppliers to curb the failures that have destroyed thousands of livelihoods and bedeviled $1 billion in projects, including LBOD.
Whether it’s small, community-led projects, integrated, holistic approaches, or mega-project partnerships, Pakistan needs to act soon.
“The ethnic divide is huge in Pakistan to begin with, and water is increasingly a source of that conflict,” Akhtar said.
In newly settled regions and along provincial borders and shared irrigation canals, the tensions are particularly high.
“These areas are waiting to explode,” he explained. “It’s a time bomb.”
David Lepeska
David has served as U.N. correspondent for the newswire UPI and reported for several major newspapers, including the New York Daily News and Newsday. He was chief correspondent for the Kashmir Observer in Srinagar, India, and regularly contributes to the Economist, among other publications. Since 2007, David has reported for Devex News from Washington, New York, as well as South Asia.
Originally published on www.devex.com 01 July 2008
To read on the web click  on the link:https://www.devex.com/news/as-decision-makers-dither-pakistan-water-crisis-deepens-29393

Asma Atique
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Still recovering from a heat wave which killed over 1,250 people in June, Pakistan experienced torrential rains and flooding earlier this month, which killed an additional169 people and affected over one million. As such extreme weather events become more frequent due to climate change, the urgency to deal with Pakistan’s looming water crisis is growing. Its direct impact on the country’s population, economic growth, and political stability has made it clear that the issue may be a greater threat to Pakistan than militancy.

Safe and Accessible Drinking Water Is Scarce

According to the UN, over one billion people around the world now lack access to safe drinking water. Global reservoirs and aquifers are drying up, and freshwater is increasingly, unequally distributed and managed unsustainably. Earlier this year, the UN found that within ten years, about 2.9 billion people in forty-eight countries will face water shortages that could destabilize and jeopardize the “very existence” of some states. Pakistan is one of these countries.
Estimates show that anywhere from about a quarter to a third of Pakistan’s population lacks access to safe drinking water. Both urban and rural populations suffer from water contamination and waterborne diseases. A 2009 study by the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars concluded that more than two million people in the city of Peshawar drink contaminated water. At least 30,000 people die each year in Karachi alone, where the rivers contain lead, chromium, and cyanide. A 2006 study from the Woodrow Wilson Center found that Lahore’s groundwater was contained with more than the permissible amount of arsenic. The report concluded that due to lack of access to safe drinking water, nationwide, 630 Pakistani children die each day from diarrhea alone.
Earlier this year, Khawaja Asif, Pakistan’s Minister for Water and Power, warned in an interview with The New York Times that “under the present situation, in the next six to seven years, Pakistan can be a water-starved country.” According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Pakistan is already one of the most water-stressed countries. This means only 1,000 cubic meters of water are available per person per year, which is approximately five times less than was available at the country’s inception in 1947. By2020, water availability will further reduce to less than five hundred cubic meters per capita per year, making Pakistan water-scarce. The amount of water Pakistan has stored for emergency purposes only lasts thirty days, compared to the international standard of 120 days and the recommended standard of 1,000 days for countries with similar climates.
If left unchecked, Pakistan’s water crisis will seriously worsen in the very near future.

The Causes of Pakistan’s Water Crisis

Most debates about Pakistan’s water crisis have emphasized increasing demand, population growth, and urbanization as the root causes. The problem, however, is more complex. Pakistan’s water crisis has been exacerbated by climate change, the prioritization of agriculture, underpriced water, poor management, and a lack of political will to change the status quo.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, climate change is linked to more frequent extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, erratic rainfall, and flash floods, all of which make managing water increasingly challenging yet equally crucial. Because of climate change in the Himalayas, there has been a decrease in river flows and a drying up of the Indus River system – Pakistan’s main source of freshwater. The shrinking Indus delta has made the remaining water too saline and polluted to be used for drinking or agriculture. It has also led to a significant loss of mangroves and biodiversity.
Currently, ninety percent of Pakistan’s water resources are dedicated to agriculture, leaving only ten percent for drinking and sanitation. In the past few decades, Pakistan has seen a move toward large-scale farmers producing high-value crops that supposedly create more jobs per unit of land and water. As a result, most of the country’s major crops are water-intensive, such as sugarcane and rice, and further aggravate the country’s water problems.
But, cultivating water-intensive crops is only profitable if water is cheap. The majority of Pakistan’s farmland is currently irrigated through a canal system, and according to theIMF, its water “is vastly underpriced, recovering only one-quarter of annual operating and maintenance costs.”
Feisal Khan, Associate Professor of Economics at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, hasnoted that ineffective policies and governance have led to poor water management in the country. Under current Pakistani laws, water rights are linked to land ownership, and a fixed rotational system (warabandi) is used to regulate access to water. Regardless of when or how much water is needed, farmers can only access water resources when it is their turn. Based on notions of “temporal equality,” the system completely disregards farmers downstream who are left with less water than those upstream.
In addition to the emphasis on agriculture and poor management, rampant corruption also contributes to the country’s water woes. Of the 145 water hydrants in Karachi, 129 are illegal. Pakistan’s ‘water mafia’ relies on these illegal hydrants and sells water at extortionate rates. With the help of local politicians and officials, the mafia creates an artificial demand for water by cutting government and private supplies.
Although Islamabad has incorporated water-related UN Millennium Development Goals into its domestic policies, the government’s approach relies on the expansion of water supplies through large-scale, expensive, and environmentally damaging dams. More water could be saved if funds were spent on proper repair and maintenance of existing systems, rather than spending $12.6 billion on projects such as the Diamer-Bhasha Dam.
All of these factors and policies have contributed to Pakistan’s water shortage. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that water will be managed any differently in the country anytime soon. A significant number of Pakistani politicians are landowners and are loath to change policies from which they benefit.

The Threat Posed by Water Scarcity

This year’s UN World Water Development Report found that 3,072 lives and US$16 billion were lost in Pakistan due to flooding from 2010 to 2012, which caused an increase in the country’s inflation and unemployment rates. The IMF also recently warned that water scarcity poses a threat to the entire Pakistani economy, since agriculture remains an economic cornerstone, comprising twenty-five percent of GDP growth.
Michael Kugelman of the Woodrow Wilson Center has noted that water scarcity is further exacerbating Pakistan’s security and political instability. Water shortages have led to protests throughout the country, and terrorist attacks on electricity grids and water pipelines continue to pose an immediate threat. The government’s legitimacy is comprised by its inability to effectively respond to severe weather events. For instance, its inadequate response to the 2010 floods created an opportunity for opposition groups to step in and lead recovery efforts, which helped these organizations gain legitimacy, approval, and recruits from local populations.
Water scarcity is also intensifying tensions between ethnicities and provinces. The Balochseparatist movement has accused the government of exploiting its water resources to help fuel industrial growth in Punjab. Earlier this year, twenty men working on a dam project in Pakistan’s Balochistan province were killed by separatists. Water resources are at play in interprovincial tensions between Pakistan’s southern provinces of Sindh and Punjab, which remain the center of the debate. Sindh is one of the areas most affected by the water crisis, as water diversion upstream to Punjab has led to a rapid drying up of the Indus. Since most of Sindh’s population is economically dependent on the river, livelihoods are increasingly at risk. Nonetheless, as water expert Simi Kamal points out, there needs to be a shift away from fixating on this interprovincial debate.
Similarly, water scarcity is exacerbating tensions between Pakistan and its upper riparian state, India. Pakistan often accuses India of “water terrorism,” a claim that is amplified by the Pakistani media. These outlets have claimed, for example, that recent floods in Pakistan worsened because of a lack of cooperation between the two states. Pakistani media held India responsible for last year’s flooding in parts of the country, blaming the incident on India’s decision to open the Baglihar Dam in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Ratings may be driving at least some of this rhetoric. Senior Pakistani journalists claimthat the numbers show people are more likely to pay attention to the water crisis if it is presented as a conflict between the two countries.
While greater attention to the severe nature of the water crisis is a good thing, the incendiary language used may have serious repercussions in the future and may increase tensions between the neighboring countries. In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Former Prime Minister Asif Ali Zardari wrote that “the water crisis in Pakistan is directly linked to relations with India” and “could fuel the fires of discontent that lead to extremism and terrorism.”
Although many experts, as well as the Pakistan Meteorological Department itself, haverefuted some of the provocative claims about India’s role in recent floods, they have also argued that India’s construction of the Baglihar and other dams are in violation of the1960 Indus Water Treaty. The treaty marked the end of a decade-long fight between the two countries over water, and has a dispute resolution mechanism that has continued to address concerns, but only to a certain extent. There are still fears inside Pakistan that India could change the flow of the Indus and, thereby, control Pakistan’s food security and economy.
There is no doubt that under these circumstances, water scarcity presents a challenging situation for Pakistan. Like militancy, it could threaten the legitimacy of the present government as well as the country’s social, economic, and political security. Now more than ever, effective management of Pakistan’s dwindling water resources should be a priority.
Curtsey: muftah.org ,August 18th, 2015
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