India has issued a notice to Pakistan seeking modification of the more than six-decade-old Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).
About Indus Waters Treaty
- Indus Waters Treaty was signed in the year 1960 with Pakistan concerning the use of waters of the Indus system of rivers.
- The Treaty extends to main rivers of Indus basin i.e. Sutlej, Beas, Ravi (Eastern rivers) and Jhelum, Chenab and Indus (Western rivers) including their tributaries and sub tributaries and other water bodies.
- All the waters of the Eastern Rivers were allocated to India for her unrestricted use while India is under obligation to let flow all the waters of the Western Rivers, except for the domestic, non-consumptive and other uses permitted in the Treaty.
Reasons behind notice
- India said the notice follows Pakistan’s continued “intransigence” in implementing the treaty, by raising repeated objections to the construction of hydel projects on the Indian side.
- The notice, sent on January 25 through the Commissioner for Indus Waters, gives Pakistan 90 days to consider entering into intergovernmental negotiations to rectify the material breach of the treaty.
- The notice has invoked Article XII (3) of the treaty which says: The provisions of this Treaty may from time to time be modified by a duly ratified treaty concluded for that purpose between the two Governments.
- The notice appears to be a fallout of a longstanding dispute over two hydroelectric power projects that India is constructing – one on the Kishanganga river, a tributary of Jhelum, and the other on the Chenab (Ratle).
- Pakistan has raised objections to these projects, and dispute resolution mechanisms under the Treaty have been invoked multiple times.
- In 2015, Pakistan asked that a Neutral Expert should be appointed to examine its technical objections to the Kishanganga and Ratle HEPs.
- In 2016, Pakistan unilaterally retracted this request, and proposed that a Court of Arbitration should adjudicate on its objections.
- In August 2016, Pakistan had approached the World Bank, which had brokered the 1960 Treaty, seeking the constitution of a Court of Arbitration under the relevant dispute redressal provisions of the Treaty.
- A Pakistan-backed terror attack on Uri in September 2016 had prompted calls within India to walk out of the Indus Waters Treaty.
- The Prime Minister had famously said that blood and water could not flow together, and India had suspended routine bi-annual talks between the Indus Commissioners of the two countries.
- The dispute redressal mechanism provided under Article IX of the IWT is a graded mechanism. It’s a 3-level mechanism.
- India has not fully utilized its rights over the waters of the three east-flowing rivers — Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — over which India has full control under the Treaty. It has also not adequately utilized the limited rights over the three west flowing rivers — Indus, Chenab and Jhelum — which are meant for Pakistan.
(Source: Indian Express and PIB)
