The Indus River was always considered to be Sindh’s river when five rivers flowed through Punjab. With the loss of three rivers to India now the whole country has to subsist on the remaining three rivers of which only the Indus has surplus flows. Tarbela dam was built to transfer water from the Indus to the canals in north and south Punjab which were previously serviced by Ravi and Sutlej rivers. By storing surplus flood water Tarbela dam increased canal supplies by 25 percent.
Of this increase Sindh got an additional 7 million acre feet of water and was able to cultivate more than 20 lac additional acres. It is quite wrong for Sindh to deny north and south Punjab their legitimate shares from the increased supplies from Tarbela dam. Through the CJ and TP canals in the case of south Punjab and through the left bank canal at Kalabagh dam in the case of north Punjab.
The intention of the Indus Water Treaty could not have been to deprive north and south Punjab from the waters of Ravi and Sutlej without providing for replacement water from the Indus. It is imperative that the public takes note of the statement of the Sindh chief minister in this regard.
ENGR KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore
