Importance of Kabul River for irrigation in Peshawar valley underlined

ISLAMABAD: The deteriorating national, regional and global climatic conditions and the population explosion in Pakistan are seriously impacting Kabul River.

This was the crux of the interactive session held at the National Press Club on the importance of river Kabul, here on Saturday.

Experts were of the view that the Kabul River with its four offshoots in Pakistan is very important for the irrigation in Peshawar valley and the adjoining areas. Moreover, there are other issues relating to Kabul River which includes water diversion, shortages and wastages, water management, storage and pollution, irrigation problems, environmental damage, floods, droughts, crop failures, socio-economic complications, mass human migrations and the migrating seasonal birds.

Among other experts, Khan Faraz from Peshawar informed that Kabul River is negatively impacting Pak-Afghan relationship; therefore, the best alternative is to reach a negotiated arrangement over Kabul River. He referred to the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) dialogue titled, “Pakistan-Afghanistan Trans-Boundary Water Relationship Exploring Opportunities for Cooperation” at Peshawar.

The expert has called upon Pakistan and Afghanistan to follow the international laws on utilizing the water of Kabul River. Kabul River was very crucial for the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan and Afghanistan as 25 million people in the two countries were directly dependent on the Kabul River. Also, the previous Afghan government with financial support of other countries had planned building Shatoot Dam in Kabul River Basin for multiple purposes but it never materialized due to a host of reasons. He added that Pakistan has built only one dam, Warsak Dam, on Kabul River that generates 250 megawatts of power.

“The two neighbouring countries desperately needed the water for different purposes, saying they could utilize the Kabul River water by following the Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational uses of International Watercourses 1997”, Faraz added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022