Pakistan’s rabi crops may be affected due to the suspension of the IWT as close to 80 per cent of the country’s irrigation needs are met through the three western rivers. In economic terms, these waters contribute 21 per cent to the country’s GDP

Tribune News Service

Pakistan has written three letters to New Delhi since May 10 when post-Pahalgam hostilities ended between the two countries seeking revival of the Indus Waters Treaty and exchange of data on how much water was flowing from India into the western neighbour’s territory.

India had kept the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance after the April 22 terrorist attack in which 25 tourists and a pony-owner were killed in Pahalgam.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Water Resources has sent four letters — three received after May 10 — to the Jal Shakti Ministry, which has forwarded these to the Ministry of External Affairs for “action, if any”. Sources said the 1960 IWT’s provisions allowed its modification. “Section 12 mentions that the treaty may be modified from time to time by a duly-ratified treaty concluded for that purpose between the two governments,” the sources said.

India has been asking for modification to the IWT, citing the changed water flow and improved engineering techniques that allow better power generation and water regulation. Days after the Pahalgam attack, the Cabinet Committee of Security, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had announced keeping the IWT in abeyance “until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably stopped cross-border terrorism”. The World Bank, which was part of the treaty negotiations in the 1950s, has refused to intervene despite Pakistan’s request. The IWT governs how the waters of the six Indus basin rivers —Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — are utilised and distributed between the two neighbours. The agreement allocates the eastern rivers—Sutlej, Beas and Ravi—to India and the western rivers—Indus, Jhelum and Chenab—to Pakistan.

During his address to the nation last month, Prime Minister Modi had made it clear to Pakistan that “water and blood could not flow together”.

Pakistan’s rabi crops may be affected due to the suspension of the IWT as close to 80 per cent of the country’s irrigation needs are met through the three western rivers. In economic terms, these waters contribute 21 per cent to the country’s GDP.

An official said holding the IWT in abeyance gave India an option to have a long-term plan on using the mandated share of Pakistan’s waters. At present, India has little capacity to store waters of the Indus, Jhelum and the Chenab. “In the long term, India can build large storage dams across these rivers, especially across the Indus and the Chenab and release water at will: more during monsoons and hold it back in the summer months,” the official said.