The bark and bite of Indus Waters Treaty | Latest News India
Does placing the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance bite? To craft an effective disciplinary tool, it is the flow of these western rivers – the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab – which hold 80% of the river system’s water, that India must control. (ANI) To answer this, let’s go back to when Pakistan was born and Kashmir was torn apart. The Indus River System, which flows from India to Pakistan, did not pause for partition, although a standstill agreement maintained the pre-Partition water allocation. In October 1947, Pakistan-backed rebels attacked Kashmir. So, on April 1, 1948, when the standstill agreement expired, India flexed its hydrological muscles by turning off the tap. As a result, 5.5% of west Pakistan’s agricultural land dried up before sowing, and Lahore lost its main municipal water source. Pakistan had to pay for any water it received through the Indus River system. A ceasefire agreement followed and Kashmir became a formal part of India. According to a senior Pakistani negotiator of the Indus Waters Treaty, “India held all the …
