Water expert engineer Suleman Najib Khan on Wednesday said that the long-standing water dispute between Pakistan and India can be resolved in an amicable manner through the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), if India understands the significance Pakistan being the lower riparian and unable to control its water supplies.
He expressed these views at a seminar on Pak-India Water and Trade arranged by India-Pakistan Soldiers Initiative for Peace (IPSI) at Gymkhana Club. Khan expressed the concern that India had built dams on Pakistani river waters emanating from Indian side of Kashmir including Chenab, Indus and Jehlum Rivers in violation of the IWT. “We have no feature on Chenab to build a dam but you (India) are operating dams, thus having full control to hold Pakistani water even for a month, and this matter needs serious attention of the Indian government,” he said.
He said since India had been the upper riparian, it had the full control and advantage of water than the lower riparian, Pakistan. He stressed upon India to share equitably, fairly, amicably and honestly the waters of the three rivers upon which Pakistan had perpetual right under Indus Water Treaty, signed between the two countries in 1960.
Khan said Pakistan could not build more reservoirs, as most of Pakistan’s financial resources were directed at curbing terrorism and extremism. Furthermore, he said that Pakistan’s population has now increased up to three times since 1974, while, its water storage capacity has reduced to a mere 8 percent while the ground water level is lowering due to global warming.
Moreover, he said that Pakistan has been losing hydropower worth 60 billion dollars following spoilage of water in the absence of reservoirs every year.
He said, “you (India) share with us the boundaries of Indus Basin to keep Pakistan’s agriculture alive. You may go further with trade and technology but if you just give us a space in agriculture, it will eliminate terrorism and extremism from Pakistan.”
Later, the Indian delegation head Muti Dhaar said India wanted total stability in Pakistan and Afghanistan, adding that India was financially assisting Afghanistan for development of its sectors of education, health, power and infrastructure.
Muti Dhaar said that though India has constructed dams on Pakistani waters, it has ensured that water was not held during cultivation season in Pakistan. However, he said, “I assure you, we will do what can be possible for us for better and strong relations between the two neighboring countries.”
In his presentation on Pak-India trade, Dr Salman Shah said both sides need to ease upon the visa regime, change standards, quarantine and business rules, besides creating trade infrastructure.
Shah said in the rules of business, both the countries would have to sort out Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) to maintain balance of trade and stressed that Pakistan and India could not benefit from trade due to these NTBs.
He suggested three major initiatives to strengthen and expand Pak-India relations that included trade, tourism and investment. He elaborated that enhanced trade could be a foundation stone to further the bilateral ties, while tourism could improve people-to-people contact and said that investment was another factor which could ensure strong and long-lasting relations between the two countries.
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