The much spoken Water Accord of 1991 allotting 37 percent each to Punjab and Sindh while giving 14 percent share to KP and 12 percent to Balochistan is highly unfair to Punjab which has 73 percent of irrigated area of Pakistan. Sindh has only 15 percent irrigated area of Pakistan. What would it do with a 146.67 percent increase in water allocation over its existing irrigated area? Even granting a 100 percent increase of 30 percent in its water share would have been more than enough for Sindh accepting the fact that it has saline ground water. Punjab ought to have got at least 44 per cent share of any storage in the future in view of its 73 percent irrigated are of Pakistan.
The Water Accord of 1991 thus needs to be revised to make it equitable for Punjab. It appears a 37 percent share of water was dangled before Sindh by Mian Nawaz Sharif hoping that it would agree to Kalabagh dam which did not happen thus leaving the entire country high and dry. These days Sindh is floating on a lake of water which raises a question as to whether it would be wise to pump in 37 percent of water from a future mega dam into Sindh.
DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore
