Move to strangulate Pak economy
LAHORE
Water experts and agriculturists on Monday sharply reacted to the dangerous Indian move of inter-linking of disputed rivers in the Occupied Kashmir and said that the $100 billion project to link around 30 rivers was intended to turn Pakistan into a barren field.
They further said that New Delhi was actually pursuing ambitious policies to strangulate Islamabad by exercising control over the water flow of Pakistani rivers.
New Delhi is constructing 300 small and major dams and linking the rivers to contain Pakistans water share by violating the Indus Basin Water Treaty 1960.
India has allocated $212 billion for turning the water course of Chenab, Jhelum and Indus rivers from North to South to deprive Pakistan of its share of water, said Aziz-ul-Haq Qureshi, Chief Coordinator Indus Basin Water Council (IBWC).
He further said that the federal government had failed to protect the national interests of the country. Unfortunately, it seemed that the political leadership including President Asif Ali Zaradri has accepted Indian water hegemony. This government must go. The water rights of Pakistan could only be protected through launching a full-fledge war against the enemies of this country, he added.
President Pakistan Muttahida Kisan Mahaz, Ayyub Khan Mayo said that Indian water hegemony was an all-encompassing strategy to destabilise Pakistan. He said that 180 million masses of Pakistan had their severe reservations and concerns over ambitious Indian water projects besides countless other dams being built by India, since these dams were affecting seven million acres of fertile land.
He also informed that according to articles 3, 4 and 7, India could not construct any water reservoirs over western rivers of Chenab, Jhelum, and Sindh nor it could divert the catchment areas of tributary canals of these rivers.
New Delhi is bound to notify Pakistan in advance about the water schemes but so far it has failed to do so, and was constructing dams discreetly. Pakistan only becomes aware of the project, when they are complete by 70 per cent.
Muhammad Ramzan Rafique, a Norway-based Pakistani agriculturist says that it is an era in which rivers, lakes, and aquifers have become national security assets to be fought over, or controlled through surrogate armies and client states.
With all these hydro-atrocities, he said, India is double-dealing by alluring Pakistan in discussion and launching controversial projects at the cost of Pakistans economy.
It is a must that the issues of water and Kashmir must be resolved as early as possible in order to avoid a nuclear war over water dispute, he added.
Ramzan said a number of controversial hydroelectric projects are being planned by India on the rivers reserved for Pakistan to further choke the water flow. These include 24 projects on River Chenab, 52 on River Jhelum and 18 on River Indus.
To me personally, he said, Pakistans agriculture and hydropower generation is under a serious threat. Due to the sensitivity of the issue and its impact on Pakistan, if the water dispute is not resolved amicably it can lead to a confrontation between the two nuclear armed neighbours.
Experts say that Pakistans agriculture sector would be greatly affected by inter-linking of rivers in Occupied Kashmir. They said that Pakistani concern regarding the water from the rivers started in the 1990s after India began constructing a hydroelectric power project on the Chenab River in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Since, the Chenab is the key tributary of the Indus, Pakistani policymakers, religious and political leaders feared that India could exert control over the waters. Such control could be used to injure the Pakistani economy and livestock, or could be used to cause floods in Pakistan by the release of water during times of war.
Move to strangulate Pak economy | The Nation
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