Joint Indo-Pak watershed management proposed for Chenab, Jhelum
Friday, December 04, 2009
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: With a view to save the future water in Jhelum, Chenab and Indus rivers, Pakistan has proposed a joint Pak-India watershed management of the said lifeline. The watershed of the said rivers lies in India. The same watershed also stands for the Indian rivers of Ravi, Sutluj and Beas.
In the wake of zero management by the Indian authorities, which had been burning down huge swaths of forests to flush out the Kashmiri freedom fighters in the catchments areas of the said rivers, water flows have alarmingly reduced in the River Chenab and experts are of the view that the River Jhelum would become a seasonal river in case its watershed was not properly preserved. The massive deforestation has devastated the economy of the area, which damaged the water flows in both Pakistani and Indian rivers.{It is always India's fault}
In the 1970s, Pakistan used to receive a generous water inflow in Jhelum and Chenab Rivers but now even in the summer season this inflow stands reduced to dismal low levels. Experts attribute this drastic reduction to the destruction of forests in the catchments areas by the timber mafia in connivance with the Indian authorities. Pakistan, under the proposal, offered to jointly develop and manage the watershed in the catchments area.
The quantum of water flows in the River Chenab stood at 26 million acre feet in 1922-61 period, which has alarmingly tumbled to 20.6 MAF because of the massive deforestation in the catchments area of the river.
Pakistan came up with this prudent proposal during the Indo-Pak track II dialogue on Conflict Resolution and Peace Building in Bangkok from October 5-7, 2009, with support from the Ploughshares Fund, according to the minutes of the meeting available with The News.
The Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies facilitated and organised this vital and crucial dialogue with the aim to provide members of the strategic community on both sides with a common platform to discuss issues that plague the Indo-Pak relations and reflect on the possibilities of charting alternative course in the near future.
The significance of this Track II initiative was further reinforced by the stalling of the composite dialogue process at the Track I level in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks. The discussions, spanning over eight sessions, touched a number of issues, including the bilateral ties ranging from analysing Confidence Building Measures, cross-LoC interactions, the Siachen issue, sharing of the River Indus waters, possibility of forging a common strategy for Afghanistan, expansion of the Indo-Pak trade, to evolving better joint mechanisms for countering terrorism.
Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit said he was unaware of any such meeting held in Bangkok from October 5-7, 2009. He said right now there was no Track II diplomacy going on between the two countries. “However, this meeting might be arranged privately.”
Asked if the proposal to jointly develop and maintain the watershed of the said rivers carries the weight in favour of Pakistan, Basit said he will only be in a position to answer when he will have a formal outcome of the Bangkok meeting. However, in the meeting, Indian experts came up with proposal to joint water management over three western rivers allocated to Pakistan by the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960, which Islamabad forcefully rejected.
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