Ads by Google

International Flights KLM

Best Price Guarantee. Book Online
Enjoy Super Savings On Your Travel!
KLM.com

India Nepal
Great Discounts & Offers on Intl
Flight Tickets. Call 022 41554949
cleartrip.com

Computer Operator Jobs

Exp:0-5yrs, Sal:25-100K
Submit CV to Apply
MonsterIndia.com

Pure & Safe Water

For Your Family from Aquaguard
Total with RO / UV / UF. Know More!
EurekaForbes.com

The Indus Water Treaty

Subrahmanyam Sridhar (2005)
Executive Summary
Recent stresses and strains in the observance of the Indus Water Treaty
(IWT)[1] have had many analysts including this author believe that
water sharing will take a politically charged dynamic and may even
replace Kashmir as the primary source of conflict between India and
Pakistan. Therefore it is important to have comprehensive
understanding of the overall issues of the Indus system of rivers and
the IWT as this article attempts to provide. It is formatted introduce the
Indus river system, a brief overview of the principles of water sharing,
the historical background leading up to the water crisis between India
and Pakistan and the mediation by the World Bank, various provisions
of the IWT, current disputes in water projects on the Indus River
System bilaterally between India and Pakistan, and a look into the
state of affairs of the Indus River System within Pakistan today.
Contents
Introduction
The Indus River System
The Indus Tributaries
The Indus Water Treaty
Current Issues on Indus Water Sharing
Conclusions
References and Footnotes
Introduction
The 3rd World Water Forum held at Kyoto , Japan in March 2003 sent
simultaneous messages of hope and distress regarding the availability
of water to meet surging worldwide demand in the coming decades. Its
significance is especially serious in the Indian subcontinent, a region
that is home to one-fourth of humanity and to three of the mightiest
rivers of the world: the Indus , Ganges and Brahmaputra . Although
these rivers have been subject to significant water sharing treaties
among the various riparian states in the past, currently four major
treaties govern them. These include the Indus Water Treaty (1960)
betweenIndia and Pakistan , Sankosh Multipurpose Project treaty
(1993) between India and Bhutan , the GangesWater Sharing
Agreement (1996) between India and Bangladesh , and the Mahakali
Treaty (1996) betweenIndia and Nepal .
Recent stresses and strains in the observance of the Indus Water Treaty
(IWT)[1] have had many analysts including this author believe that
water sharing will take a politically charged dynamic and may even
replace Kashmir as the primary source of conflict between India and
Pakistan. Therefore it is important to have comprehensive
understanding of the overall issues of the Indus system of rivers and
the IWT as this article attempts to provide. It is formatted introduce the
Indus river system, a brief overview of the principles of water sharing,
the historical background leading up to the water crisis between India
and Pakistan and the mediation by the World Bank, various provisions
of the IWT, current disputes in water projects on the Indus River
System bilaterally between India and Pakistan, and a look into the
state of affairs of the Indus River System within Pakistan today.
The Indus River System
The northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent is dominated by
the Indus River and its system of upper tributaries (collectively referred
to as Indus River System in this article.) Originating 17,000 feet (518
m) above sea level in a spring
near Lake Manasarovar at Mt. Kailash[i], the Indus river along with
theBrahmaputra[ii], Sutlej , and Karnali rivers are fed by massive
Tibetan glacial waters to become a mighty river with further feeds from
other glacial catchment areas in Karakoram and Zanskar ranges. The
Indus then traverses a distance of 1800 miles (2900 km) through Tibet,
India, Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), and Pakistan before draining
into the Arabian Sea south of Karachi. On its way, it is further enriched
by the waters of several tributaries, the most important and discussed
in this article are Beas , Sutlej , Ravi ,Chenab and Jhelum rivers. The
western tributaries of the Indus that include the Swat, Kurram, Gomal,
Kohat, Zoab and Kabul are not discussed herein. The river has been
variously known as theSengge[2] orLion River by the
Tibetans[iii],Abbasseen or Father of Rivers by the Pathans of present
NWFP Pakistan, and Mitho Dariyo or Sweet River by the denizens of the
arid Sindh.

Figure 1: Indus river and its

tributaries with in Jammu and
Kashmir (J&K) Courtesy of
Panos Institute South Asia
Figure 2: Major tributaries and dams of the Indus river Courtesy of
Indian Express
The Indus Tributaries
Sutlej : The longest of the five tributaries, the Sutlej originates
nearMt. Kailash along with the Indus and runs a course of 964 miles
(1550 km) through the Panjal and Siwalik mountain ranges and
enters Pakistanthrough the plains of Indian Punjab. The Husseiniwala
Headworks at Ferozepore is located downstream at the merger
between of Beas and Sutlej, the closure of which on May 1,
1948triggered the water crisis that prompted the IWT. These
headworks supplied water to the then Princely State of Bikaner through
a left-bank canal called Bikaner Canal and the state
of Bahawalpur from the right-bank canal called Depalpur Canal . The
huge 740 feet (225 m) high Bhakra Dam, which Nehru called “the new
temple of resurgent India ,”[1 1] is also situated on this river. In addition
another important headwork located on this Sutlej is Harike that feeds the Sirhind and Rajasthan
canals. Within Pakistan , these eastern

tributaries of the Indus known as Panjand combine at Mithan Kot.

Figure 3: Bhakra Dam Courtesy of Ministry of Irrigation, Govt. of
Rajashtan
Chenab : This 675 mile (1086 km) long river originates in the Kulu and
Kangra districts of Himachal Pradesh and is fed by the tributaries
Chandra and Bagha as it enters J&K near Kishtwar. After cutting across
the Pir Panjal range, it enters the Sialkot district in Pakistan that built
the Marala barrage across the river in 1968 with a maximum discharge

of 1.1 million cusecs.

Jhelum & Kishenganga (Neelum): The Kishenganga river rises in the
mountain complex west of Dras and south of Deosai plateau and is fed
by a number of tiny tributaries and merges with Jhelum near
Muzaffarabad in PoK. The Jhelum[iv] itself originates in the foothills of
Pir Panjal near Verinag and flows through the four major cities of
Anantnag, Srinagar , Sopore and Baramulla. Some important tributaries
of the Jhelum are Lidar, Sind and Vishav.
Ravi : This 475 mile (764 km) long river rises in Himachal Pradesh and
runs a course of 102 miles (164 km) before
joining Chenab in Pakistan after flowing past Lahore . The Thien Dam
(Ranjit Sagar Dam) is located on this river at the tri-section of Punjab ,
Himachal Pradesh and J&K States and feeds the Upper Bari Doab Canal
(UBDC) which irrigates Northwestern Punjab .
Beas : This 290 mile (467 km) long river originates
near Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh and flows through Kulu Valley and the Siwalik Range .
The Pandoh Dam is
situated on this and diverts water to Sutlejthrough the Beas-Sutlej link.
The original infrastructure built by the British to harness and efficiently
distribute the waters of these tributaries with a series of canals,
barrages, and headworks has been augmented with construction of
dams since independence by both India and Pakistan .
The Indus Water Treaty
The India Independence Act enacted in 1947 by British Parliament and
the subsequent British withdrawal from India left the subcontinent
partitioned between two independent states marred by demarcation
problems along their international boundaries, the peculiar
circumstances leading to the division, and the accession of a number
of princely states especially that of Jammu & Kashmir straddling India
and Pakistan as well as the complex riverine systems of Indus, Ganges,
and Brahmaputra. Of these three rivers, theIndus presented a
complicated set of issues stemming from thousands of kilometres of man-made irrigation canals
and headworks that regulated the flow of
its waters. While all the rivers, except Indus and Sutlej , originated
within Kashmir , the headworks located mostly in the Eastern
Punjab were awarded to India . Aside from the Punjab Boundary
Commission suggestion that the canal-headworks system be treated as a joint venture, a
proposition rejected by both countries, it had not
deliberated water sharing of Indus River Basin due to a hasty partition
that was completed in a mere 73 days. Water sharing issues of Indus
River System would later take over a decade to resolve. Further
complicating this issue, Pakistan covertly and later overtly sought to
grab Jammu & Kashmir for various reasons including the desire to
control the waters of these rivers that succeeded in instilling only
distrust among Indian minds.
After the Partition, both the nations agreed to a “Standstill Agreement”
on Dec. 30, 1947 freezing the existing water turn systems at the two
headworks of Madhopur (on the Ravi ) and Ferozepur (on the Sutlej)
until March, 31, 1948 . Any dispute that could not be resolved by the
Punjab Partition Committee was to be decided by the Arbitral Tribunal
(AT) which had been setup under Section Nine of the Indian
Independence Act by the Governor General to sort out difficulties
arising over the division of assets. However, on the expiry of the
arrangement and after not receiving an encouraging response to a
reminder for talks issued by the East Punjab Government on 29 th March
1948, and in the absence of a new agreement, the then Indian Punjab Government promptly
stopped the water supply through Madhopur on
April, 1, 1948. By a coincidence, the Arbitral Tribunal’s term also
expired on the same day. In the meanwhile, the AT had
accepted India ’s claims regarding seigniorage charges for the waters
and ordered payment of the same by Pakistan . At the invitation
of East Punjab , the Engineers of the two divided-Punjab States met in
Simla on Apr. 15, 1948 and signed two Standstill
Agreements[5] regarding
theDepalpur Canal and Central Bari Doab Canal to be in effect
until Oct. 15, 1948 . The West Punjab Government agreed to pay: (1)
seigniorage charges, (2) proportionate maintenance costs, and (3)
interest on a proportionate amount of capital. In its defence, the GoI
cited such charges levied by the Punjab on the Bikaner state under the
British.
However, the West Punjab Govt. refused to ratify the Agreement and
the Prime Minister of Pakistan, then Liaqat Ali Khan, called for a
meeting. The Finance Minister of Pakistan , Ghulam Mohammed, along with the Pakistani
Punjab ministers, Shaukat Hayat Khan and Mumtaz
Daulatana visited Delhi to work out an agreement [4] in the Inter-
Dominion Conference held on May, 3-4, 1948. India agreed to resume
release of water from the headworks, but made it clear
that Pakistan could not lay claim to these waters as a matter of right
and would levy seigniorage charges specified by the Prime Minister of
India to be deposited in Reserve Bank of India , establishing Indian
sovereignty over these rivers. The Indian side also made assurances
that the waters would be diminished slowly giving enough time
for West Punjab to develop alternate sources. The West Punjab Government, for its part, also
recognized “the natural anxiety of theEast Punjab Government to discharge the obligations to
develop
areas where water is scarce and which were underdeveloped in
relation to parts of West Punjab .” Soon the Pakistani Government

falsely accused that they were coerced into signing this Agreement
and made futile appeals to the Governor General Lord
Mountbatten. However, due to the hostilities
between India and Pakistan on account of Kashmir and in the general
environment of distrust and animosity, no further talks took
place. Pakistan ’s suggestion in June 1949 to take the matter to the
International Court of Justice at The Hague and widen the conflict
across all rivers, was rejected by India . On November 1, 1949 , Pakistan unilaterally invalidated
the Delhi Agreement and by
July, 1950 stopped seigniorage payments into RBI.
However, India continued to abide by the Agreement and supplied
waters.
In 1951, David Lilienthal, former chairman of the Tennessee Valley
Authority and a former Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, USA
visited the two countries ostensibly to write a series of articles for the
Colliers magazine (since defunct). Having had access to both the
Governments at the highest level, Lilientahl wrote in one of his articles,
“I proposed that India and Pakistan work out a program jointly to
develop and jointly to operate the Indus Basin river system, upon
which both nations were dependent for irrigation water. With new
dams and irrigation canals, the Indus and its tributaries could be made
to yield the additional water each country needed for increased food
production. In the article I had suggested that the World Bank might
use its good offices to bring the parties to agreement, and help in the
financing of an Indus Development program.” Inspired by this idea,
Eugene R. Black, then President of the World Bank visited the two
countries and proposed a Working Party of Indian, Pakistani and World
Bank engineers to tackle the “functional”, rather than the “political”
aspects of water sharing. The two countries accepted this
mediation[5 ] (which also had the backing of President Truman who
wanted to remove the “kind of unfriendliness” that existed then
between the US and India ) offer in March 1952 and sent their technical
teams to Washington for further discussions. Subsequent meetings took place in Karachi in Nov.,
1952 andNew Delhi in Jan. 1953. The
World Bank suggested that each side submit its own plans, which they
did onOct. 6, 1953 . The two plans, while concurring on the available
supply of water, differed widely on allocations.[6 ] The table below,
shows the initial, negotiated and final positions of both the countries.
Table 1: Indus River System Estimates and Allocations
 Plan India Pakistan
Initial Estimate 119 MAF 118 MAF[v]
Initial Indian 29 MAF 90 MAF
Initial Pakistani 15.5 MAF 102.5 MAF
Revised Indian All of the Eastern rivers + 7% of None of the Eastern riversplus 93% of
Western rivers the Western rivers
Revised Pakistani 30% of Eastern rivers and none of the 70% of the Eastern rivers + all of the
Western rivers Western rivers
World Bank Entire flow of the Eastern Rivers Entire flow of the Western

However, despite all efforts, the wide gaps in the stands of the two
countries could not be bridged, mainly due to the intransigence of the
Pakistani side as the revised and final allocations show clearly above.
The World Bank felt that an ideal approach to joint development of an
integrated plan for Indus Basin as proposed by David Lilienthal was
now impossible. In order to resolve the dispute, it finally stepped in
with its own “settlement” proposals on Feb. 5, 1954 offering the three
Eastern rivers to India and the three Western rivers
to Pakistan . India accepted the proposal in toto on Mar. 25,
1954 while Pakistan gave only a “qualified acceptance” on July 28,
1954 . The settlement offered by the World Bank was closer to the
Indian position as it repudiated the claims of Pakistan based on
“historic usage”. An angered Pakistanthreatened to withdraw from
further negotiations. The World Bank proposal was then transformed
from a “settlement” to a “basis for further negotiations” and the talks
eventually continued for the next six years.[7, 8] In the meanwhile, the
two countries signed an Interim Agreement on June 21, 1955 . As no
conclusive agreement could be reached, the World Bank announced
on Apr. 30, 1956 that the negotiation deadline has been indefinitely
extended.[9] As is its wont, Pakistan , through its then Prime Minister H.S.Suhrawardy, issued a
direct threat of war with India over waters,
escalating tensions.
Under the World Bank plan, Pakistan was asked to construct barrages
and canals to divert the Western river waters to compensate the loss of
Eastern rivers on the Pakistani side. During the period needed to do
this, called the Transition Period, India was required to maintain the
“historic withdrawals” to Pakistan The World Bank then suggested a
“financial liability” for India as replacement costs by Pakistan for the
loss of the three Eastern rivers. In the 1958 meeting, the replacement
works and the financial liability to Indiawere
considered. India rejected Pakistan ’s proposal, known as the “London
Plan”, for two large dams on the Jhelum and the Indus and three
smaller ones on Ravi and Sutlej and several canals, all in all totaling
USD 1.2 Billion. India ’s alternate proposal, known as the “Marhu Tunnel Proposal”, was
unacceptable toPakistan as leaving too much leverage
on water flows in Indian hands. In May, 1959, the Bank’s President
visited both countries and suggested a way out which
involved India paying a fixed amount of £ 62.060 Million to be paid in
ten years in equal installments and the Bank assisting Pakistan with
help from donor countries. The international consortium of donors
pledged USD 900 Million for Pakistan and the drafting of the IWT began
in Aug., 1959.
The treaty was signed in Karachi by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Field
Marshal Ayub Khan H.P., H.J. and Mr. W.A.B. Illif, President of the World
Bank in a five-day summit meet starting Sep. 19, 1960 . However, it
was deemed effective from Apr. 1, 1960 . The two governments ratified
the same in January 1961 by exchanging documents in Delhi .
Simultaneously an Indus Basin Development Fund was established with
contributions from Australia , Canada , Germany , New Zealand ,
the UK and the US along with India ’s share of the cost. The Eisenhower
Administration contributed roughly half the cost of the Fund, while the World Bank provided US$
250 Million and the other donor countries
together provided a similar amount. The Water and Power
Development Authority (WAPDA) of Pakistan was entrusted with the
task of completing these tasks. The fund was subsequently
extinguished after the completion of the projects as per Article XI of
the IWT. The May 4, 1948 accord stood annulled after the signing of
IWT. The Indus Basin Project involved construction of two large dams,
five barrages, one siphon and seven link canals as detailed below in
Tables 2, 3,& 4, to transfer 14 MAF of water from the Western
rivers.[1 0] There are three systems of link canals. Two of the systems,
the Rasul-Qadirabad-Balloki-Suleimanki System (R.Q.B.S.) and the
Trimmu-Sidhnai-Mailsi-Bahawal System (T.S.M.B) connect
the Jhelum River through to the Sutlej and the third system Chashma-
Jhelum System (C.J) connects the Indus with the Jhelum .
Table 2: Engineering Construction Work in Pakistan as part of IWT - Canals
Link Canals Constructed in Pakistan under the IWT
From -To Rivers Link Canal Name Description
1. Jhelum – Chenab Rasul-Qadirabad 30 miles long; provides 19,000
cusecs Jhelumwater to Chenab
2. Chenab –Ravi Qadirabad-Balloki 104 miles long; provides 18,600
cusecs water to Ravi
3. Ravi – Sutlej Balloki-Suleimankill 39 miles long; provides 6,500 cusecs
water toSutlej
4. Indus – Jhelum Chashma-Jhelum 63 miles long; provides 21,700 cusec
water to Jhelums
5. Indus-Ravi Trimmu-Sidhnai 44 miles long; provides 11,000
cusecwater to Ravis
6.Ravi-Satlej Sidhnai-Mailsi 60 miles long; provides 10,000 cusecs
water to Sutlej
7. Indus-Panjnad Taunsa-Panjnad 38 miles long; provides 100,000
cusecs water to Sutlej
Table 3: Engineering Construction Work in Pakistan as part of IWT - Reservoirs
Reservoirs Constructed in Pakistan under IWT