Pakistan accuses India of violating Indus Water Treaty Agreement

Pakistan military's official monthly magazine has accused India of indulging in water offensive by violating Indus Water Treaty Agreement.

Even as it emphasised on peaceful relations, the Editor's Note in the magazine 'Hilal' said the situation has the potential to ignite tensions. "The natural flow of water is essential for Pakistan's agricultural economy. Any willful obstruction of water thereof has the potential to ignite tensions between the two states. Pakistan had always looked for peaceful relations with India and it is keen to resolve all outstanding issues. It is now up to India to come forward and take concrete steps to maintain peace in South Asia," the note said.

The magazine, published by the military's Inter Services Public Relations, notes that after "literally" converting river Sutlej and Ravi into "sewers", India is now eying other water resources of Pakistani rivers. The editorial, titled 'Games They Play – India's Water Infringement', claims that India is in the process of building as many as 67 dams on Pakistani rivers in violation of Indus Water Treaty (IWT). "India has built and is in process to construct big and small dams, hydropower projects and reservoirs, numbering as many as 67, on the principal rivers - Indus, Jehlum and Chenab - that were allotted to Pakistan under the IWT," it says.

It adds, "These projects include Kishanganga dam, Tulbul dam (Wullar barrage) and Uri-II hydroelectric plan on River Jhelum; Baglihar, Salal and Bursar dams on River Chinab; and Kargil dam, Nimmo Bazgo hydroelectric project on River Indus and Chutak hydroelectric plant on a tributary of Indus." The military's September 2013 publication, Defence Day special, says India's building of dams on Pakistani rivers could cause major water shortages in Pakistan in future.

It says concerns are now growing in Pakistan that India is pursuing policies to strangulate Pakistan and is trying to exercise control over the water flows in Pakistan's rivers. It adds, "The IWT also does not allow India to obstruct the flow of the run of rivers by storing or diverting the water but she is doing so which is a clear violation of the treaty and India must refrain from any such practice."