Water to flow, but only after India taking fair share

While ruling out the option of abrogating the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Monday decided to put up an elaborate plan to exploit the three western rivers -- Indus, Chenab and Jhelum -- as per the provisions of the treaty, before their waters are allowed to enter Pakistan.

Even as the meeting -- attended by the principal secretary to the Prime Minister, Nripendra Misra, national security advisor Ajit Doval, foreign secretary S Jaishankar and water secretary Shashi Shekhar -- started, the Prime Minister set the tone. Sources, who were present at the meeting, quoted Prime Minister Modi as saying: “Blood and water can't flow at the same time.” This implies that while adhering to its international obligations, India will use water as a tool and leverage it against Pakistan so its leaders are made to address New Delhi’s concerns.

India will also review the construction on the Tulbul/Wullar Barrage navigation project which was suspended in 1987, but later revived on a smaller scale in 2007. The project, which is a "navigation lock-cum-control structure" at the mouth of the Wullar lake, envisages a regulated water release from the natural storage in the lake. This is to maintain a minimum draught of 4.5 feet in the river up to Baramulla, during the lean winter months.

This is one of the eight contentious issues identified by both sides as part of the Comprehensive Dialogue process. Pakistan apprehends that the barrage will damage its own triple-canal project linking the Jhelum and Chenab with the Upper Bari Doab Canal and will allow the Indian Army to make crossing the river either easy or difficult, at will, by the controlled release of water. Furthermore, it will give a lever to India to control the flow of water into the Jhelum. This will allow India to create potential drought and flood situations at will which can affect Pakistan’s agriculture.

Sources say the government's plan is to exploit an option that it hasn't used for 30 years -- which is to increase the agricultural usage of water in Jammu and Kashmir. Out of the 6,00,000 hectares of cultivated land in Jammu and Kashmir, only 1,50,000 hectares is under irrigation. It was also decided to allow 0.5 million acre feet (MAF) water to flow to Pakistan during the lean season.

Sources added that the Prime Minister wanted the construction of three dams -- Bursur, Sawlakot and Rattle -- on the river Chenab to be speeded up. The review was undertaken as India is now weighing up its options to punish Pakistan for its abetment to terrorist activities. External affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup had said last week that there were differences between India and Pakistan on implementing the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir’s deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh said last week that his state will fully support whatever decision is taken by the Union government on the 1960 agreement. “The treaty has caused huge loss to Jammu and Kashmir, as the people of the state cannot fully utilise the waters of various rivers, particularly the Chenab in Jammu, for agricultural and other activities,” Singh had said.

Officials were sceptical about the total abrogation of the treaty, fearing that it would rake up Chinese aggression, from where the river Indus originates. India’s eastern neighbour also holds the controls of the river Brahmaputra, which sustains large parts of India and Bangladesh.

But India’s stand is in line with its treaty. India has shown generosity in the last five decades which the PM of India clearly highlighted “Blood and water cannot flow together".