New Delhi (TDI): India is weighing plans to significantly increase its water extraction from a key river that supplies Pakistani farms downstream. The proposal includes expanding a century-old canal and constructing new water storage facilities.
India unilaterally suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, which governs usage of the Indus River system, shortly after Pahalgam attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Without offering any evidence, New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the attack.
Pakistan vehemently denied any involvement in the attack, but the water treaty has not been revived despite the two nuclear-armed countries agreeing to a ceasefire last week, following the worst fighting between them in decades.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly told officials last month to expedite planning and completing of projects on the Chenab, Jhelum and Indus rivers, three rives in the Indus system that are designated primarily for Pakistan’s use under the Indus Waters Treaty.
Read More: India Begins Hydro Projects After Suspending Indus Waters Treaty
One of the major plans under consideration involves doubling to 120 kilometers the length of the Ranbir canal on the Chenab, which runs through India to Pakistan’s Punjab province. The canal was constructed in the 19th century, long before the accord was inked.
New Delhi is allowed to extract a limited amount of water from the Chenab for irrigation, but an expanded canal would allow it to divert 150 cubic meters of water per second — up from about forty cubic meters currently.
Read More: Pakistan Plans Legal Action Over India’s Indus Waters Treaty Move
About 80 percent of Pakistani farms depend on the Indus system, as do nearly all hydropower projects in the country. Islamabad has declared that any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan would be deemed an act of war.
Farkhund Yousafzai is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
