EDITORIAL: Even without India’s formal suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, Pakistan’s water vulnerability was already stark. Now, with bilateral uncertainty baked into the region’s future, the lack of adequate storage capacity becomes more than a development bottleneck; it becomes a structural threat.
Despite repeated warnings about glacial melt, changing rainfall patterns, and increasing stress on the Indus Basin system, Pakistan has been slow to transition from water-rich complacency to water-scarce urgency.
Every year, during the brief window when river flows are strong, we waste tens of millions of acre feet simply because there is nowhere to hold them. And every year, farmers face erratic water deliveries, urban planners struggle with supply gaps, and provincial disputes simmer beneath the surface.
India’s move to “suspend” the treaty might not immediately shut the taps, but it does signal that New Delhi is willing to weaponise water as a pressure tactic. This changes the equation. It is no longer just about domestic inefficiency or interprovincial mismanagement — it’s also about external risk, and the lack of preparedness to meet it.
The government’s renewed focus on dams, particularly Diamer-Bhasha, is therefore overdue but essential. For years, large dam construction has remained caught in a thicket of technical, financial and political challenges. Yet the physics of the problem are unforgiving: Pakistan’s annual water storage capacity hovers around 30 days, compared to 170 days in India. That gap is not just academic; it translates directly into economic risk, food insecurity, and social tension.
With the glacier-fed Indus system now at the mercy of both climate volatility and geopolitics, delay is no longer an option. Pakistan has already crossed the threshold into water stress. The next phase, water scarcity, will not wait for consensus or committee meetings.
Crucially, this is not simply about building megaprojects. A serious national strategy must also include smaller reservoirs, canal lining, groundwater regulation, and reforms to water pricing and agricultural efficiency. But without a dramatic increase in upstream storage, all other efforts will be undermined by volatility at the source.
That makes the prime minister’s call for interprovincial consultation both timely and necessary. But it cannot be allowed to stall under the weight of local resistance, as has happened with critical infrastructure in the past. Water storage benefits everyone — even if the dam sits in one province, it secures the flow for all. If anything, the suspension of the treaty should trigger a rare moment of unity: this is a national problem, not a provincial one.
India’s decision to suspend the treaty only formalises what had been increasingly evident through other actions — selective water releases, dam-building upstream, and diplomatic stonewalling. It was never a question of if Pakistan would need to adjust; it was a question of how soon. That question has now been answered.
The coming summer will again test the system. Heatwaves are forecast, glaciers will melt, and — if past is prologue — large amounts of water will escape to the sea, unused. This year, that loss must be taken as more than just a seasonal quirk. It is a symptom of a structural flaw in our water governance and a warning that the time to act is running out.
Let the focus on Diamer-Bhasha be more than a headline. Let it signal a pivot from reaction to prevention. Because if we don’t start building now, we may soon run out of time — and water.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025