Despite shared expectations to the contrary, transboundary water sharing comes relatively easy to India and Pakistan — providing a sign of hope that a good treaty can bridged troubled waters.
With India-Pakistan relations at a crisis point once again, many commentators and political activists see confrontation as the rule of the day in all areas of bilateral relations. But is this accurate? Only in late May – at the height of the most recent standoff – an overlooked but important meeting took place despite the dismal political situation. On its agenda was a matter of truly vital concern to both countries: the coordinated utilisation of the Indus River system."
Amid much speculation, this year's session of the joint Permanent Indus Commission took place in New Delhi with the Indian and Pakistani commissioners and their staff meeting to review the status of river management by the two riparian nations. During their three-day meeting, the two sides discussed, among other issues, Indian hydroelectric projects on the Jhelum and Chenab tributaries, even as media reports quoted politicians from both countries speculating about the termination of the commission. The dams and storage reservoirs near Baglihar and Wular, which India expects will augment its hydropower capacity and improve navigation, are seen by Pakistan, the lower riparian of almost all tributaries in the Indus basin, as a likely source of future water shortage.
In Pakistan, Punjab and Sindh provinces depend on steady and timely water supplies from the north. Much of Pakistan's economy is based on a network of rivers, irrigation canals, barrages, and storage reservoirs for food production, drinking water supply and power generation. In particular, agriculture is highly sensitive to disruptions of established watering schedules because each type of crop has its own specific moisture requirements and growing sequence. Differences among geographical regions within Pakistan also add to this complexity. Natural conditions for irrigation in these two provinces, which account for over 80 percent of the country's agricultural output, are more difficult in the plains of Sindh than in the Punjab. Mainly, the reduced flow velocity leading to a higher vulnerability to salinity in the southern part of the Indus basin accounts for a lower efficiency in irrigation which renders Sindh agriculture less productive. It has become a regular phenomenon of Pakistan politics that by the end of the winter season, farmer organisations of both provinces engage in a war of words over alleged wastage of water from the perspective of the upper riparian, and theft of water, from the perspective of the lower riparian. This argument dominates inter-provincial relations and, in fact, fuels a vociferous sub-national movement, particularly in Sindh.