Commission finalises report on Indus treaty violations
LAHORE: As the country has decided to approach and brief the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on the latest situation in the region amid sky-high tensions with India, the Pakistan Commission on Indus Waters (PCIW) has shared a detailed report with the federal government about massive violation of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) by New Delhi.
Though the Commissioner for Indus Waters was not available to comment, a source privy to the development said that the report sent by the commission to government mentions a massive breach of the treaty in the form of construction of three hydroelectric plants / projects at the western rivers, including Jhelum and Chenab. The construction of the 450MW had reportedly been started at Chenab basin in 2005, followed by 330MW Kishan Ganga Hydropower Project in 2010 at Jhelum River basin. The construction of 850MW Ratle Hydropower project is yet to be initiated.
“The report also contains the information about other violations of the treaty by India such as delaying or avoiding giving information regarding release of floodwater during monsoon in rivers, including Ravi and Satluj. Besides these, there are a series of violations India committed already,” said the source while talking to this scribe.
He further said a very recent major violation committed by India was holding the treaty in abeyance that is not at all allowed.
He further said the report also mentioned that New Delhi suspended the treaty unilaterally on the pretext of the Pahalgam attack last month.
According to another source, India always faced defeat whenever Pakistan challenged and raised objections on the design of the aforementioned projects and took up these issues on relevant forums, including neutral expert or international court of arbitration.
“The proceedings on a couple of projects including Ratle are still underway at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, a non-UN intergovernmental organisation located in The Hague,” he said.
Talking to Dawn, Syed Jamat Ali Shah, a former commissioner on Indus Waters said in fact the draft of treaty finalised in 1960 gave no privilege to India to use waters of western rivers—Indus, Jhelum and Chenab on which Pakistan had the full right to use.
“India had full right to use the water of eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas and Satluj) whether through construction of dams (for water storage and power generation) or other purposes.”
He added that a few months before signing of the treaty, India had started building pressure on the authorities concerned to also allow it to construct run-of-the river hydropower projects and small storages for irrigation purposes in the catchment areas of the western rivers.
He said since a lot of work has already been done on the treaty and there was no time to further delay, it was decided to allow India do so, but with some restrictions / conditions such as consulting Pakistan while finalising design of the projects etc.
He urged the government to brief the UNSC in detail about a series of violations of the treaty India committed.
“The Pakistani team may also take up this issue with the World Bank immediately in a bid to get the India’s unilateral decision of holding treaty in abeyance scrapped,” he urged.