Indus Basin Transboundary Water Issues in Past and Present Perspective 12 3 (original) (raw)
Indus basin river system comprises the main Indus and its five tributaries. Irrigation infrastructure in the basin makes it the largest contiguous block of irrigated agriculture in the world. At the time of partition of the sub-continent in 1947, boundaries between Pakistan and India were demarcated without due consideration of headwaters and their command areas. Resultantly, the rivers source waters and headworks of canals commanding huge area in Pakistan went under Indian control, giving rise to severe water sharing dispute. Inter-riparian negotiations failed but with the mediation of World Bank, Indus Water Treaty was finally signed in 1960. The treaty is comprehensive document whereby the three western rivers were allocated to Pakistan and the three eastern to India. The other provisions of the Treaty were constitution of Indus Water Commission, data exchange and dispute resolution mechanism. Over the years, the Treaty worked well for resolving transboundary water issues between the riparians. However, population growth and surging food and energy demands coupled with water scarcity gave rise to differences and disputes during the last couple of decades. This paper overviews water disputes between the two countries and sharing transboundary waters in the past and the present perspective. It highlights lacunae of the Treaty in the context of current era of climate change, environmental degradation and technological developments. It further suggests framing and implementing universal laws based upon equitable and fair sharing of transboundary waters all over the world for avoiding water wars.
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