No way a violation of Treaty

12/03/2019

India has decided to stop the flow of its share of water to Pakistan from rivers under the Indus Water Treaty, a move seen as an immediate fallout of deadly terrorist attack that martyred 44 paramilitary personnel in South Kashmir. Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari few days back tweeted to convey the decision of the Government to stop India's share of water going to Pakistan. But the actual implementation of the decision may take up to six years as dams as high as 100 metres will have to be built to stop such flow, decision was in no way a violation of the Treaty and was only aimed at getting the rightful due to people of the country. Under the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960, the waters of the western rivers the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab was given to Pakistan and those of the eastern rivers the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej to India. India's share of water from Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers came to 33 million acres feet (MAF). While about 95 per cent of the water was being used in the country after the construction of three main dams across the rivers, close to 5 per cent water or 1.6 MAF would flow to Pakistan.
Water to Pakistan from the three rivers has been flowing for 60 years while the country needs the same to meet needs of its citizens, they said insisting stopping of its share of water from going to Pakistan is in no way a violation of the Treaty.
Gadkari's tweets have come barely a week after the gruesome Pulwama terror attack on February 14 in which as many as 44 CRPF personnel were martyred when a terrorist rammed an explosives laden vehicle into a bus carrying them. New Delhi believes the attack was planned and supported by elements in Pakistan. Following the attack, the Government revoked the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan and also imposed 200 per cent customs duty on all goods imported from the neighbouring country. For this, a central assistance of Rs 485.38 crore for irrigation component over five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23 was also announced. The Indus Waters Treaty was signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 for sharing of Indus waters. According to the Treaty, India got the full rights for utilisation of waters of the three eastern rivers - Ravi, Beas and Satluj. In September 2018, the Punjab and the Jammu and Kashmir governments had signed an agreement to resume works on the Rs 2,793-crore Shahpurkandi project. Though the work on the project began in 2013, it was halted due to certain issues raised by J-K.

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