ISLAMABAD, (MILLAT+APP): Minister for Defence, Water and Power
Khawaja Muhammad Asif Tuesday said Pakistan would not accept any
external pressure on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) reached with
India in 1960 for distribution of water between the two countries.
“Each and every clause of the IWT should be followed by both
the signataries in its letter and spirit,” he said while talking to
media persons after addressing a national seminar.
The seminar titled “Hydro Politics around Pakistan:
Reassessing the Efficacy of IWT,” was organized by the Institute of
Strategic Studies, Research and Analysis (ISSRA) here at the
National Defence University (NDU).
Commenting on India’s latest move to build Ratle Dam on the
River Chemnab after Baglihar and Kishanganga project, the minister
said Pakistan did an extensive exercise in one and half years over
the issue.
“Pakistan’s case is stronger than that of India and we
would safeguards its national interests at every cost,” he asserted.
Answering a question, the minister underlined the need for
conserving water, electricity and gas, highlighting the importance
of developing habit of conservation at every level.
In the existing system, he said, Pakistan had sufficient water
resources to meet its needs but “we will have to end the culture of
wastage.”
Replying to another question, Khawaja Asif said around 6,500
MW electricity would be added in the national grid during a period
from April to December this year.
The electricity would be coming from five power generation
plants, out of which two are coal-fired and three LNG-based. “This
will help eliminate the power shortages in peak summer season,” he
said adding 3,500 MW more electricity would be added in the system
from other resources by the end of the current year.
He expressed confidence that the commitment made by the Prime
Minister with regard to overcoming the load-shedding in the given
time would be fulfilled.
Earlier addressing participants of the seminar, Khawaja Asif
said the waters regime as envisaged in the IWT continued to take the
brunt of Indian mindset and their inclination to interfere with the
waters, exclusively reserved for Pakistan.
“The potential to interfere is widened if not actualized, in
the backdrop of conflicts between the two countries.”
However, he said, treaty was an instrument which could avoid
wars, so Pakistan’s focus remained on implementation of the treaty
in letter and spirit.
“The question of upper and lower riparian is essentially a
misnomer in the IWT context. In the first place, Pakistan needs to
stick to the treaty, while emphasizing on its true implementation.
Secondly, we need to keep in mind that the country’s water security
dilemma is accentuated in the absence of an effective water storage
capacity, water conservation and management strategy,” he remarked.
The minister said situation could be improved through a multi-
pronged and time efficient management; and a strong political will
to translate plans into reality.
“We should put our house in order and take meaningful steps to
enhance our storage capacity.”
He said both the countries were bound to follow the IWT
clauses in letter and spirit and no side could abrogate them
unilaterally.
In his welcome address, President NDU Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar
said the IWT 1960 had been the most outstanding achievement that
established a technical formula and mechanism for water division of
the Indus basin river system in an otherwise politically volatile
region.
The legal instrument, he said, had so far sustained and
delivered despite ups and downs in Pakistan India relations.
Other participants of the seminar emphasised that water, being
a lifeline” had become an important factor in shaping the
relationship between co-riparian in the changing geo-strategic
environment.
Pakistan and India share the waters of Indus River Basin which
has been a major source of contention between the two states since
independence.
In order to resolve the disputes, both countries signed IWT in
1960 with the help of World Bank which has survived over five
decades of hostilities between the two states.
However, due to the recent indigenous upsurge in Indian
Occupied Kashmir (IOK), water has once again become a divisive
issue.
Indian statement “blood and water cannot flow together” and
the threat of unilateral abrogating the treaty has resulted into a
new wave of hydro politics around Pakistan and brought IWT under
stress.
Highlighting Pakistan’s primary concerns regarding the IWT,
the seminar participants gave different suggestions to counter the
Indian hydro hegemony in an effective manner.