News
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Govt decides to arrest former Water Commissioner* Jamat Shah opposition fails to fulfil government expectations on water issues with India
By Razi Syed
KARACHI: The government has finally decided to make arrangements for the arrest of former Indus Water Commissioner, Jamat Ali Shah.
Pakistan has to decide now to appoint patriotic and real water management experts to take up its case before International Court of Arbitration (COA) against India over construction of hydropower project in violation of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.
“Jamat Shah’s opposition fails to fulfil government government’s expectations on water issues with India,” Sindh Agriculture Forum (SAF) water expert, Shakeel Ahmad said.
Even on Exit Control List (ECL), Jamat Ali slipped abroad and Rehman Malik, Federal Interior Minister assured his arrest on Monday. The country is heading towards the worst water shortage in the next couple of years due to insufficient water management practices and storage capacity, agriculture and water experts said.
In the backdrop of the arrest of permanent Indus Water Commissioner, Shah, the government has hard job of justifying its earlier actions.
Pakistan has right to oppose to the Kishanganga project because its diversion will reduce 16 percent of the power generation capacity of the 969-MW Neelum-Jhelum power project on the same river downstream Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir, an official of Ministry of Water and Power told.
“How can a person on an important seat opposed the facts and shoulder with the opponent side, as on many a occasions Mr Jamat could not come up with the government’s expectations on water issues with India,” according to Sindh Agriculture Forum (SAF) water expert, Shakeel Ahmad. He said due to the poor handling of case with India as well as in International Court of Arbitration (COA), Pakistan could not gain points in favour of its case, only because of a team of jurists, not sincere from the start.
A report by the Washington DC based Woodrow Wilson Centre described Pakistan’s water shortage as deeply troubling.
He said Neelum-Jhelum power project case in COA, Pakistan would face a loss of energy more than Rs 6 billion every year. Pakistan and India have agreed on the selection of two arbitrators each for the seven-member court of arbitration, but have failed so far to agree on the appointment of three arbitrators belonging to engineering and law to complete the adjudication forum for more than seven months now.
The Indus Water Treaty with India remained just on papers. India had diverted Pakistani water and constructed more dams, which would further worsen the water situation in Pakistan.
Most independent analysts inclduing expert said all Pakistanis agree that Pakistan faces a severe water shortage and that some form of water management should be implemented soon.
The Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture said underground water in Punjab province was going down due to provision of free electricity to Indian Punjab province for tube wells.
The farmers were taking excessive water through tube wells, which resulted downward trend of water in Pakistan Punjab province.
If the process on Indian side continued then the underground water situation in Pakistan Punjab would further worsen that would badly affected main crops producing province of the country.
The underground water level went down from about 70-100 feet to up to 1,000 feet and termed it as a worsening situation.
An Indian water management expert has conceded many of Pakistan’s concerns on the Baglihar dam in occupied Kashmir are ‘legitimate and carry weight.’ However, he said Bagliar dam was in no way a contravention of the 1960 Indus Basin Treaty, which allowed India to take up projects on three Pakistani rivers provided they did not serve to divert the flow of water into Indian Territory or to create water storage. Under the treaty, three western rivers, Chenab, Jehlum and Indus are allocated to Pakistan and India is not allowed to build storages on them.
“We concluded Indus Treaty with Pakistan in 1960 and so far it has withstood stress and strains,” he said. India had also concluded water agreements with Bangladesh and Nepal, “There are still some problems and these are being addressed.”
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk