Ajit Karn
Indus Waters Treaty
According to government sources, New Delhi has notified Islamabad that it wants to amend the more than 60-year-old Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) due to Pakistan’s “intransigence” in carrying it out (January 27).
What does this notification from India mean?
According to the sources, the notice, which was delivered on January 25 via the Indus Waters Commissioner, will kick off the process of amending the treaty.
According to them, the purpose of the notice for modification was to give Pakistan a chance to engage in intergovernmental consultations within 90 days to address the material IWT violation. According to a source, “this procedure would also update the IWT to take into account the lessons learnt over the last 62 years.”
In accordance with IWT Article XII(3), India has given Pakistan the notification. This clause reads, “The contents of this Treaty may from time to time be amended by a treaty concluded between the two Governments and duly ratified.”
What is the Indus Waters Treaty, though?
After nine years of discussions between India and Pakistan that were mediated by the World Bank, the IWT was finally signed on September 19, 1960 in Karachi by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and President Mohammed Ayub Khan of Pakistan.
The agreement for the six rivers of the Indus basin that pass through both India and Pakistan is outlined in the treaty. It contains 8 Annexures and 12 Articles (from A to H).
According to the terms of the agreement, Pakistan must obtain water from the “Western Rivers,” which include the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab, while India is allowed “unrestricted usage” of all the water from the “Eastern Rivers,” namely the Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi.
Article II (1) of the treaty specifies that “all the waters of the Eastern Rivers should be available for the unrestricted use of India, unless as otherwise specifically stipulated in this Article.”
“Pakistan shall receive for unrestricted use all those waters of the Western Rivers which India is under duty to let flow under the provisions of Paragraph (2),” reads Article III (1), which contains provisions relating to the Western Rivers.
The IWT has proven to be a resilient document that has weathered three wars and decades of tensions, despite occasional demands in India that it should be abandoned in light of Pakistan’s continuous backing for terrorism against India.
India has issued notice to Pakistan for modification of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of September 1960. Notice was conveyed on January 25 through respective Commissioners for Indus Waters: Sources
— ANI (@ANI) January 27, 2023
So what exactly is in question here?
India is building two hydroelectric power projects (HEPs): the Ratle HEP on the Chenab and the Kishenganga HEP on the Kishenganga, a tributary of the Jhelum. In opposition to these schemes is Pakistan.
Sources claim that Pakistan requested the appointment of a Neutral Expert in 2015 to look into its technical issues to the Kishenganga and Ratle HEPs. However, Pakistan unilaterally withdrew this motion the next year and suggested that a Court of Arbitration rule on its objections.
According to sources, Pakistan’s unilateral move is in violation of the graduated dispute resolution procedure envisioned by Article IX of the IWT. India subsequently asked for the matter to be referred to a Neutral Expert in a separate request.
According to sources, the start of two concurrent processes on the same issues and the possibility of their inconsistent or contradictory results constitute an unprecedented and legally untenable situation that could put the IWT in jeopardy.
In 2016, the World Bank accepted this and decided to “hold” the start of two parallel processes while urging India and Pakistan to try to reach a peaceful resolution.
The sources claimed that Pakistan refused to consider the matter at any of the five meetings of the Permanent Indus Commission from 2017 to 2022, despite persistent attempts by India to find a mutually beneficial solution.
The World Bank recently started taking action on both the Neutral Expert and Court of Arbitration processes at Pakistan’s continued request. But according to the sources, no IWT clause addresses such concurrent evaluation of the same issues.
The World Bank designated Michel Lino as the Neutral Expert and Prof. Sean Murphy as the Chairman of the Court of Arbitration in October of last year. The Bank stated in a statement on October 17, 2022, “They shall carry out their tasks in their individual capacity as subject matter experts and independently of whatever other appointments they may currently have.”
The Kishenganga Hydroelectric Project: what is it?
The Kishenganga project is situated in the Bandipora district of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir in the hamlet of Kralpora on the Kishenganga River. The project’s location is roughly 370 kilometres from Jammu and 70 km from Srinagar. In May 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the project.
A horseshoe- or circular-shaped “concrete face rock-fill dam” with a height of 37 m is part of the project. Three 110 MW generation units make up the run-of-the-river system, which has a 330 MW total capacity. A 23.25-kilometer Head Race Tunnel directs river water to the subterranean power plant, where it is used to produce 1,713 million units of energy annually.
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The Ratle Hydroelectric Project is what?
The project is being proposed on the Chenab River in the Jammu and Kashmir province’s Kishtwar district, 140 kilometres from Udhampur and 201 kilometres from Jammu. It is a run-of-the-river project with a concrete dam that is 133 metres high.
The 850 MW project will feature five generation units, four of which will be 205 MW each and one of which will be 30 MW. The project can produce 3,136.76 million units of electricity per year once it is fully operational. The estimated project cost is Rs 5,281.94 crore (November 2018 prices)
A new joint venture company (JVC) with equity contributions of 51% and 49% from NHPC and Jammu & Kashmir State Power Development Corporation Ltd (JKSPDC) would be established to carry out the project.
