UN Should Settle Pakistan-India Water Dispute

Pakistan has decided to move the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) against the construction of the controversial Kishanganga Hydropower Project by India over Jhelum river in violation of 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.

The decision comes when Indians have completed the 22-km tunnel to divert Kishanganga (Neelum) waters to Wullar Lake and the work on the 330MW project is in progress for commissioning by 2016.

If completed, the project would severely affect Pakistan’s rights over the river, reduce the river flows into Pakistan and bring down the power generation capacity of the 969MW Neelum Jhelum Hydropower project near Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir, also projected to complete by 2016, by 20 per cent.

The Indus Water Commission pleaded in March last year to move the ICA but the government took more than 14 months to seriously consider the advice. The issue has been the part of the stalled composite dialogue but bilateral talks failed to resolve the conflict.

The Kishanganga project is about 160 kilometres upstream of Muzzafarabad and involves diversion of the Kishanganga or Neelum to a tributary of the Jhelum through a 22-km tunnel to divert water into the Jhelum river through Wullar Lake. This will result in drying up a long stretch of the river on the Pakistani side.

Pakistan first received reports about the Indian project in 1988 but India officially confirmed it in the mid-1990s. This was the beginning of water dispute between the two countries.

In the mid 1990s India started the construction of the Baglihar Dam on the Chenab river. In 2005, Pakistan sought the World Bank’s help to stop its construction.

The WB did not disallow India to carry out the project but sought a few modifications to ensure uninterrupted water flow to Pakistan under its quota.

In 2008, India suddenly reduced water flow of the Chenab river to damage our autumnal crops. While India continued to starve Pakistan by suspending its rightful quotas of water, foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, instead of showing concern over India’s conspiring of turning Pakistani rivers into desert, blamed Pakistan’s “mishandling” of the matter.

Qureshi may also be accused of unleashing his personal enthusiasm on the sensitive question of the resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue after the SAARC summit moot at Bhutan’s capital Thimphu. We are afraid this is wrong decision particularly after the WB arbitration on Baglihar Dam project.

The 1960 treaty does not envisage a situation arising out of projects for water storage and power generation and any arbitration will be a futile exercise.

The better option would be to aggressively pursue a diplomatic way out in the first instance. Failing this Pakistan can invoke the jurisdiction of the United Nations dispute-resolution mechanism on the plea that Indian projects would dry up Pakistani rivers and cause an incalculable loss to the country’s agriculture.

In case Pakistan plays its cards well, the UN General Assembly or the Security Council may issue a resolution that will be binding on India under the 1960 treaty that is an international law which must be respected. It is a matter of record that UN resolutions have settled bilateral disputes in the past.