Apropos 'KPK seeks amendment to water accord' carried by Business Recorder on Sunday, one needs to applaud the existence of a pragmatic KPK government that has sought an amendment to Indus Water Apportionment Accord 1991 to get back its due share of allocated water and compensation from those provinces who used its share of the water.
It is, however, quite understandable why Sindh and Punjab have opposed the proposal but Balochistan has extended support to the KPK government, arguing that all provinces that had faced injudicious distribution of water resources may be compensated. The Indus River system Authority (Irsa) Act was promulgated in 1992 with a purpose to ensure judicious distribution of water among the four provinces. Unfortunately, however, this is not case; the Water Accord in fact is contributing to discord among provinces. For example, the law or accord with regard to apportionment of the waters of the Indus River System between the provinces stipulates, among other things, "All efforts would be made to avoid wastages. Any surpluses may be used by another province, but this would not establish any rights to such uses". Unfortunately, however, both Punjab and Sindh have been found to be establishing rights to KPK and Balochistan surpluses. Hence, the KPK proposal aimed at seeking to get back its allocated share of water and compensation from Punjab and Sindh who have using its share needs proper attention in order to ensure judicious and fair distribution of waters of the Indus River System without any further loss of time.