LAHORE: India has been asked to prove its sincerity by implementing the Indus Waters Treaty in letter and spirit.
“India says it honours the Indus Waters Treaty. We accept their stance on the face value but ask them to proceed further and prove their stance practically with the implementation of the treaty,” said Pakistan Indus Waters Commissioner Mirza Asif Baig while talking to the media after the three-day 74th Annual Session of the Pakistan Engineering Congress held here on Wednesday.
To a question whether or not India is stealing Pakistan’s water, the commissioner said Pakistan had a clash with India over water flows and both the countries were contesting this issue at international forums. “We call it only theft when we have 100 per cent proof. The real dispute with India is over infrastructure being built to control flow of water. Both the countries exchange data of flow of water. India is creating obstacles for implementing the treaty. It creates obstacles for the dispute resolution mechanism for the treaty.”
He said Pakistan had raised objections to technical designs of Kishenganga and Ratle hydro power projects being built by India one on the Chenab river and the other on the Jhelum river, arguing that the designs were not in line with the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty.
“We can say that Pakistan won its case principally on Kishenganga because as a precedent, it has an impact on the future run of river projects, as Jon Briscoe of the World Bank said India won the battle but lost the war,” he said.
Baig said: “We have asked the World Bank to constitute the Court of Arbitration and its response in this regard is still awaited. The World Bank is in process of mediation between the two countries on developing consensus in the light of the Indus Waters Treaty.” He said Pakistan could not get relief in the Baglihar Dam case. The decision of the neutral expert on the Baglihar Dam was not according to the provisions of the treaty as the neutral experts are bound to give decisions according to the provisions of the treaty.
Earlier, addressing the opening session of the Pakistan Engineering Congress, former Wapda chairman Shamsul Mulk said Pakistan was losing huge money due to non-existence of the KBD which could produce power at Rs1.5 per unit. The Tarbela and Mangla Dams were generating electricity at Rs1.5 per unit even today. Enumerating the benefits of water reservoirs to cater to the country's needs, he stressed the need for initiating construction work on the Kalabagh Dam (KBD) without delay. In the absence of the KBD, do far the country had to bear an accumulative loss of Rs 196 billion annually – Rs 100 billion Punjab, Rs 60 billion Sindh and Rs 36 billion KP. He accused India of this conspiracy, alleging that “water policy is formed in New Delhi and our people are on the payroll of India and delaying the KBD construction”.
He said the water policy is simply non-existent in Pakistan. He said the authorities appeared to lack political will to tackle the problem. There were no proper water storage facilities in the country. Pakistan had not built new dams since 1960.
The biggest beneficiary of the KBD would be DI Khan where around 800,000 acres of arable land would be able to be cultivated. The area being 150 feet higher than the Indus River could only be cultivated economically with the construction of the KBD. The KBD would save DI Khan, Punjab and Sindh from floods. It would help reduce power shortage to a great extent by providing cheap and environment-friendly electricity.
In his welcome address, PEC President Engr Ghulam Hussain said the PEC recommends that the policy of hydel power generation should be adopted as a long-term policy. Construction of a cascade of mega storage and hydropower projects on the Indus River comprising Diamer Basha, Kalabagh Dam. Akhori Dam and Dasu, Pattan, Thakot and Bunji Hydropower Projects will provide a very strong base for agricultural and industrial development of the country.
He said: “Our population is growing rapidly and our needs for food and other agricultural products have greatly increased. God has blessed Pakistan with land, large rivers, excellent climate and hardworking people yet we continue to remain importers of edible oil, tea and other commodities. We have virtually clamped down on further development of major water storages for the last 40 years. The cumulative storage capacity of the major water reservoirs including Mangla and Tarbela has decreased by 25 per cent because of sedimentation.”
He said the Wapda through various studies identified that Pakistan had potential of 60,000 MW hydel generation. Within another five to ten years, the shortage of canal irrigation water would become a serious issue, let alone the demand for water supplies by cities and industry, he added.