About three weeks ago, India welcomed and celebrated World Bank’s neutral expert’s ruling on the settlement of the disputes and differences between India and Pakistan with regard to the two hydro-power projects – Kishenganga and Ratle – rebuffing Islamabad’s approach to invoke Permanent Court of Arbitration for settling these differences. The neutral expert backed India’s stand that the Treaty had within itself the provisions to resolve the issue and approaching PCA was violation of the Treaty itself.
There has been a contest between India and Pakistan over these two projects for the last nine years , as Pakistan objected to design and damming of the two hydro-power projects claiming that these halted and hampered the flow of the waters of River Kishenganga and Chenab, which flow to Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir ( PoJK). It took the extreme step of approaching PCA to decide on the matter, which was out of the provisions provided for in the IWT.
The celebration point is there as India’s view pint and interpretation has been upheld by the Neutral Expert Michel Lino , who ruled on January 20 that he is competent to deliver a decision on the merits and demerits of the points of difference between India and Pakistan. But there is a larger question about the IWT itself, should India continue with this liability of the Nehruvian era into the 21st century.
COMMENTARY
Over the decades, this treaty has done more damage to India than good . The at signed by Jawaharlal Nehru, first prime minister of India and Pakistan’s military ruler Ayub Khan on September 1960, granted full control of three eastern rivers of Ravi, Beas and Sutlej to India, while three western rivers -Indus, Chenab and Jhelum and their tributaries – all of them flowing through Jammu and Kashmir to the other side of the borderline to Pakistan. Nehru had walked into a trap as he compromised the Indian position on its control over the rivers of the country, and in fact, rewarded Pakistan for invading Jammu and Kashmir and weakening India’s position on Kashmir.
Despite huge goodwill gesture, though shown erroneously by Nehru in 1960, Pakistan was stubborn on its so-called claim on Kashmir, launched three full-fledged wars in 1947-48, 1965 and 1971 and also in Kargil in 1999, to bleed India what it calls ‘by thousand cuts’. In the light of its persistent pricking and attacking India in Kashmir through wars and proxy war, the need of the hour is to scrap the treaty or rework it so that the interests of people of J&K, integral part of India, were not compromised
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown that political will. He had called for protecting the interests of farmers of Punjab alongside that of Jammu and Kashmir way back in 2016 while calling for renegotiating the treaty. Pakistan wants to have waters of the Indian rivers and at the same time it launches hostile actions against the country.
Today, the ill-effects of the wars and proxy-war are self evident in J&K. The water scarcity has become common, glaciers are melting and the water availability has been reduced to a great level. There is shortage of water for irrigation, drinking purposes and it is becoming more and more difficult to maintain the status of waters n the hydro-electric projects. Pakistan cries about the climate crises but when it comes to J&K, it refuses to accept that anything like that is happening. This duplicity of Pakistan needs to be exposed and it should be made to pay price for this.’
The Governments should hold Pakistan accountable for violating the terms of the IWT and punish it with measures that it deserves – that is to do away with the Treaty. This should be done at the earliest as J&K and Punjab cannot be allowed to suffer because of this Treaty in perpetuity. Delhi must take a call.
Alongside it also needs to be reflected that how Pakistan has been very quick, as if it was waiting for Bangladesh to erupt that forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to leave the country in August 2024. Indeed ,Bangladesh belongs to the people of the country , but they should not be forgetting that had India not intervened and saved them from atrocities of Pakistan’s army which murdered their men and outraged modesty of women and girls , using rape as a weapon .Since August last year, vested interests , particularly prompted by ISI of Pakistan have launched anti-India propaganda to the extent that Hindus were murdered , temples burnt, ransacked and looted . India cannot afford to overlook all these brutalities against Hindus. The community members who were leading partners in the nation-building after it was devastated by Pakistan army in 1971 are now living in fear.
Besides, anti- India actions and rhetoric is peaking. India should not be tolerating it. The least it can do is to stop all exports to the country that is becoming a big island of anti-India activities. All anti-India activists and forces have converged there. India must retaliate. Bangladesh is progressing on the import of electricity from India. The two countries have signed a series of agreements, under which India is exporting 2656 MWs of power. This energy export from India made Bangladesh to run its factories and business establishment apart from meeting the domestic consumers’ demand. Likewise India has been exporting two lakh tones of rice to Bangladesh which feeds its over 17 crore people. India cannot be having business as usual with Bangladesh when the foundations of its infrastructural assets are being hit hard alongside an overarching narrative against the country that helped the people to create a nation of their own. Thousands of Indians sacrificed their lives to liberate Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971. As Bangladesh has become ungrateful and walked into the trap of enemies of India, India should also weigh its options and punish those working against the national security and interests of the country.