Pakistan's feuding provinces have at last agreed to share the precious waters of the mighty Indus River. But there is new doubt about whether the plan is politically realistic.
The agreement, announced in early April by Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, marked a major breakthrough in resolving an old dispute that has cost the country an estimated U$ 20 billion in lost agricultural production over the past two decades.
The Indus has its origins in far-western Tibet (near Mount Kailas), and its tributaries traverse Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh before entering Pakistan's arid plains. It flows for about LOCO km across the fringes of the Thar desert to empty into the Arabian sea near the port city of Karachi.
The river was a cradle of the Indus Valley civilisation of 5,000 years ago. The ruins of the ancient cities of Harappa and Mohenjodaro attest to the level of political organisation and hydrological expertise that existed centuries ahead of their time.