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June 26 to July 2 : Weekly News Magazine
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Kashmir and the

Pakistan and India do not have "normal, trustful relations". The trust
deficit along with the fact that India once blocked water flows to
Pakistan has the military establishment convinced that they must hold
politics of water on to their claim to Kashmir in an effort to maintain the country's water
security.
Interestingly enough, another Pakistani organisation that has been
THE GEOGRAPHY vociferous in defending Pakistan's rights over Kashmir and criticising
The Indus River originates in the Tibetan plateau, making its 3,200km As noted by one British general on a visit to the area in 1948, the dispute India's "aggression" against Pakistan through reduced water flows is
journey southwards along the entire length of Pakistan, before emptying centres around the "water insecur[ity]" of Pakistan, as all of its rivers the 'charity' Jammat-ud-Dawa (JuD). The JuD is widely believed to be a
into the Arabian Sea. The river basin is divided between Pakistan, which either originate in or pass through India. front group of the militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) that has been
linked to the Mumbai attacks of 2008. Though there is widespread
has about 60 per cent of the catchment area, India with about 20 per
cent, Afghanistan with 5 per cent and around 15 per cent in Tibet. The conjecture on the organisation's close association with Pakistan's
two major riparians, Pakistan and India have extensively dammed the Experts agreed, saying that resolving water disputes under the intelligence agencies, officially, such a relationship has always been
Indus River to provide for irrigation and hydro-electricity. [A riparian auspices of the World Bank was "one way to reduce hostility" over denied.
zone is defined as the area of interface between land and a river or Kashmir. It is worth noting that the JuD has publicly declared India's "occupation"
stream.] of Kashmir unacceptable and has also termed its policy of blocking
Nevertheless, military and political clashes over Kashmir in the early water to Pakistan a justification to wage jihad. In most public
The Indus has five main tributaries. The Jhelum, the largest of these, years of independence appear to be more about ideology and statements, however, the JuD tends not to link water and Kashmir, in
contrast to the Pakistani military's position on the argument.
originates in the Valley of Kashmir. The Chenab, a second tributary, sovereignity, rather than sharing water resources. A communique from
flows through the Jammu region of the state of Jammu and Kashmir the British High Commissioner's office in Karachi, then capital of INDIA'S POSITION
before entering the Indian state of Punjab. The remaining three Pakistan, from November 1951 seems to suggest otherwise, India has consistently and emphatically maintained that it has never
tributaries (Ravi, Sutlej and Beas) either originate or flow through India's however:"But one assumption they have refused to entertain: that India meddled with Pakistan's share of the Indus waters.
state of Himachal before entering Indian Punjab. should have control over Kashmir. By having such control India could Even as the Indus Water Treaty was being negotiated, with the Indian
ruin Pakistan, simply by refusing to operate Mangla at the headworks. It
As a result, if the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan in is almost certain therefore that Pakistan would reject any solution of the government assuring Pakistan and the World Bank that water was not
Kashmir, were to move from being a defacto to a recognised Kashmir problem which would give these powers; she would rather being blocked, Chintamanrao Deshmukh, the then Indian finance
international border, India would permanently become the upper embark on a war which she fully understood to be suicidal." minister, stated in a 1953 parliamentary address that the serious food
riparian and Pakistan the lower riparian of the Indus River and all of its shortage in Pakistan was not a result of India blocking river flows.
tributaries. Indian ministers at the time were also issuing statements, saying that "Even if it were assumed that some mistakes were made at some short
controlling the entire flow of the Indus river would be impossible, "even if
India controlled Kashmir". period, which in any case did not exceed one or two weeks," he said.
The Indus is a river system that sustains communities in both India and It would appear that somewhere along the ideological path, as Throughout the history of the dispute, India has rarely, if ever,
Pakistan. In Pakistan, it is the only river system supporting the country, negotiations on water were being held, politicians worked out that a acknowledged that it has tampered with the supply of water flowing into
where more than 92 per cent of the land is arid or semi-arid. In India, it is resolution to the water dispute may well directly influence the Kashmir Pakistan. Since there is also a large amount of secrecy that surrounds
one of two main river systems supporting the country's northwest: problem. the governance of the Indus waters and data is not readily shared, there
Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan (generally considered to be water is no definitive way to prove whether India has just got caught up in
deficient areas). Indeed some experts have suggested that Pakistan thought that it could Pakistani sensationalism or whether the seeds of resentment and
solve the Kashmir dispute through solving canal-related issues, but
Given that over half of Pakistan's population is employed in the India completely denied this route of resolution. securitisation of water were sowed and are being maintained by the
agricultural sector and that Punjab produces more than 20 per cent of Indian side.
India's wheat and is known as the "bread basket" of the Republic of Consequently, the Indus Water Treaty was signed by both countries in In negotiations and meetings with Pakistani counterparts on the wider
India, the importance of the Indus River to the well-being and economy September 1960, giving exclusive rights over the three western rivers of Indo-Pak relationship, India does not deal with water and Kashmir as
of both countries cannot be overemphasised. the Indus river system (Jhelum, Chenab and Indus) to Pakistan, and the same issue. In fact, it has often been suggested by analysts that a
over the three eastern rivers (Sutlej, Ravi and Beas) to India.
more consolidated agreement on water might perhaps be a more
THE POLITICAL HISTORY The signing of the treaty and the financing of various water storage readily achievable goal in India-Pakistan composite dialogue as
In arbitrating the border between India and Pakistan in 1947, Sir Cyril projects to benefit Pakistan and India meant that tensions were minimal compared to Kashmir.
Radcliffe, the chairman of the bodies set up to demarcate the borders, and to a great degree much of Kashmir's water importance was
was unable to decide what to do with the Indus River system, given that forgotten for the next couple of decades.
it was likely to be vital to both states. As the populations of both countries increased exponentially, however, Briscoe finds that the Indian press seems to have a uniform view on
The biggest problem, of course, lay with the partitioning of the state of water resources came under increasing stress. With India preparing water issues, in relation to Pakistan. He says that it was explained to
Punjab, as it contained a complex irrigation system built by the British to ambitious irrigation project plans, it was possible to see how, by the him as follows: "When it comes to Kashmir - and the Indus Treaty is
be run under a single administration. The task was eventually delegated 1990s, Kashmir's hydrological importance had once again become a considered an integral part of Kashmir" - the ministry of external affairs
to the Chief Engineers of East Punjab (India) and West Punjab serious issue. (India's foreign ministry) instructs the media about what they are
(Pakistan) who agreed to allow the existing water sharing systems to allowed to say. In certain cases, India is happy to conflate the Kashmir
continue until the following year. This Standstill Agreement between and water issues, whereas in negotiations with Pakistan it would like to
India and Pakistan expired on March 31, 1948. On the following day PAKISTAN'S POSITION deal with them as distinct and separate.
Indian Punjab cut off water flow to Pakistan. The fact that, unlike India, all of Pakistan is wholly dependent upon
The conflict in Kashmir overlapped with the water disputes, and by the Indus River system is a geographical reality. Currently, India is in the process of building a number of dams on the
January 1948 India had taken the Kashmir issue to the United Nations Another reality that compounds this one is the fact that, as the upstream Jhelum and Chenab Rivers (both of which originate in Kashmir), such
Security Council (UNSC). On April 21, 1948, a resolution calling for a riparian on all five of the main Indus tributaries that flow into Pakistan, as the Kishenganga, Dal Huste, Sawalkot etc. The Indus Water Treaty
ceasefire and withdrawal of all troops was passed. India has the strategically advantageous position with regards to control allows India to harness the hydropower potential of the Jhelum and
The Kashmir dispute and disputes over the sharing of water resources and flow of water. Chenab Rivers, as long as it does not reduce or delay the supply to
are intertwined. From independence to the present day, they remain the John Briscoe, a subcontinental water expert, former World Bank senior Pakistan. India therefore maintains that its projects are in compliance
two biggest challenges when it comes to normalising relations between water expert and currently a professor at Harvard University, with the treaty and sees no conflict with Pakistan on these issues.
the states of India and Pakistan. recognised Pakistan's unhappy position in the following words: "This is KASHMIR'S POSITION
Later in 1948, Eugene Black, then president of the World Bank, offered a very uneven playing field. The regional hegemon is the upper riparian The region of Kashmir sees itself losing considerably from the Indus
the services of his organisation to help negotiate a solution to the water- and has all the cards in its hands." Water Treaty because it is not allowed to fully exploit the hydropower
sharing dispute between the two countries. Although India was not Pakistan is all too aware of its vulnerable position vis-a-vis water and potential of its own rivers.
eager to allow third-party involvement, both countries eventually agreed the fact that more than half of independent Pakistan's time has been In June 2011, a Chinese news agency reported that the state
to this proposal. spent under military rule has not helped to de-escalate or 'de-securitise' government of Kashmir was looking for reputed multi-national
Evidence and records from the time suggest that in 1948, when the the water discourse in the country. consultancies to calculate the exact loss to Kashmir from the Indus
Kashmir issue was taken to the UNSC and the canal dispute between Over the years, water has been raised as an issue directly linked to Water Treaty so that the government will have a number it can take to
East and West Punjab first arose (in April of that year), they were Kashmir. Pakistan's political leaders and military elites have the Indian federal government.Given that both Pakistan and India are
treated as distinctly separate political and economic issues. emphasised that if they are forced to let go of their claim to Kashmir, that dangerously energy and water starved and nowhere close to an
In the early days of independence, the fact that India was able to shut off will mean letting go of the source of Jhelum and Chenab as well and agreement on Kashmir, teamed with the impact of climate change and
the Central Bari Doab Canals at the time of the sowing season, causing being at the mercy of India for water. population pressures, the prognosis on the Indo-Pak water problem
significant damage to Pakistan's crops, exposed a central weakness Though it is unrealistic to assume that India could readily and easily involving Kashmir is anything but positive.
and vulnerability in the newly created state that was desperately trying violate the terms of the Indus Water Treaty, Briscoe emphasises that
to establish its independence.