Is water war with Pakistan for real or shield to terrorism?

The flow of Chenab, after entering Pakistan, had dipped from 48,242 cusecs in 1999 to 22,991 cusecs in 2008.This fact has put Pakistan in real worries and out of panic Pakistan started blaming India for Violating the IWT (Indus water Treaty between India and Pakistan signed on April 1960 ).Pakistani media claims that India is waging a water war on Pakistan and so is full of anti India articles on IWT violation. This is not true and we have enough proof to support our claim. Then what it is? Is Pakistan trying to justify the ongoing terror campaign with such artificial controversies? The treaty actually has fully safeguarded Pakistan’s water requirements and also has served both the countries to tackle the water related disputes, and moreover the treaty does not have any exit clause. We, India, despite having an upper hand on the issue never misused it in spite of two major wars and our subsequent tribulations. Pakistan should bear in mind that if the treaty is revoked, Pakistan stands to lose its lifeline.

The dipping of water has 2 reasons: melting of snow and quantum of rains, and even a kid these days knows pretty well that due to global warming both the factors are affected. It’s a well known fact that not only that the rainfall has dropped by 20% but also most of the Indian states are facing severe drought from last few years. Can we phrase this environment problem as Indian strategy? We India cannot keep taking the blame for everything, like if tomorrow it doesn’t rain in Pakistan they would claim India has started a cloud war…enough is enough.

Actually, the responsibility of water crisis in Pakistan is purely due to their mismanagement of water, for instance, Pakistan uses approximately 90% of water for agriculture and their canals, which carry the irrigation water to the fields, were designed in 1860’s. Imagine what kind of water is getting wasted in the form of seepage and evaporation. There are other wastages also of similar kinds and it’s high time that Pakistan should address this, otherwise, blaming will take them nowhere and ultimately the country will suffer.

The construction of Kishanganga Hydro Electric dam which is the main objection factor for Pakistan is well within the norms of IW treaty and is taken up to take care of the domestic power related issues and also to improve the economy of J&K which is long overdue. Hence, if Pakistan is sincerely looking for Kashmiri’s welfare (as they always claims to be) they should never object to this project. Whilst the debate is on, Pakistan should bear in mind that it is due to the treaty that Pakistan is benefiting the water availability, what it is denying today, though Pakistan can still address the problem by improving the management of water resources and developing new projects.

To my mind this treaty has a vicious cycle effect, i.e more and more the gap between water requirement and its availability widens in Pakistan, the lack of trust between the two countries also goes big. Also, due to less water supply agriculture development will get affected and which in turn will result in more unemployment and thereby giving room for more terrorism. Hence, Pakistan government should focus their energy and efforts on the long term development of the country through new projects , as suggested above, instead of creating artificial controversies against India which will not only make people of both side prosperous but also a good name for Pakistan in Global scenario…..

And if it is a shield to terrorism, then it’s high time that Pakistanis should realize that no terrorism can be justified and they should accept the fact that it is a lethal cancer and irrespective of who is being targeted at ,it is ultimately self destructive. Violence can never be an answer to any amount of injustices whatsoever….