Management of the Indus Water system has always remained a contentious issue between Pakistan and India. The latest point of conflagration on this front is the unabated development of the Kishanganga hydroelectric power project (KHEP) by the eastern neighbor.
Back in January this year, Pakistan approached the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) of the United Nations after the two sides failed to reach an agreement through bilateral talks. However, despite periodic assurances from local policymakers of imminent success in the arbitration, the ICA ruled against Pakistans request for a stay order against KHEP.
The most worrisome aspect of this episode is that while Indias argument was strengthened by a team of experts in international law; Pakistans officials remained preoccupied in a tussle over who would avail the opportunity of representing the country at the Hague.
Various media reports asserted that the Indus Water Commissioner Sheraz Memon and the Prime Ministers Special Assistant on Water Resources Kamal Majeedullah locked horns over the coveted opportunity.
While the Commissioner represented the country at the initial hearing in January; it was the latter who visited the Hague in the subsequent hearing in which the countrys representatives mysteriously refrained from requesting a stay order against the construction of the dam.
The Indus Water Treaty explicitly restricts India from building any installations on the western rivers: Indus, Chenab and Jhelum that may curtail the supply of water to India. Relevant Indian experts have conceded that the KHEP would curtail at least 15 percent of the water flow to Pakistans Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project.
Besides this, the new dam will also increase the silt content of the water that flows to Pakistan. Local experts contend this will render the water useless for human consumption as well as agricultural purposes. They assert that continuing changes to the water system may have a detrimental impact on the ecosystem and expose nearby areas to droughts and floods.
But even the perceived gravity of this development seems to have failed to shake the government from its slumber. How else can one lose an argument that appears water tight under the IWT?
The Indian government is also facing opposition to this project at home. The National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC), which is developing the project, needs to acquire about 4200 kanals of land in Indian-occupied Kashmir. Inhabitants of the area, including representatives of the state government have challenged that the federal government or its functionaries are not empowered to take over private property in Jammu and Kashmir.
One can only hope that the legal experts building the case for opponents of the dam in India are more capable than those selected by Pakistans government.
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