Hydro-Diplomacy: Preventing Water War Between Nuclear-Armed Pakistan and India

Author: Ashfaq Mahmood Pages: 244 Binding: Hardback Year: 2018 ISBN: 978-969-448-170-8 Publisher: IPS Press Content

About the Book

The book describes the ups and downs being faced in managing the transboundary water relations between Pakistan and India since the independence of the two countries in 1947. Despite the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) signed in 1960, differences between both the countries started re-emerging in 1970s over interpretation of various clauses of the Treaty and the design of infrastructure projects by India on the rivers allocated to Pakistan. Initially these differences were sorted out through hectic bilateral diplomacy. Subsequently, starting mid-eighties, bilateral efforts began to fail resulting in recourse to dispute resolution mechanism envisaged in the Treaty involving the appointment of a Neutral Expert and a Court of Arbitration. This trend is continuing and a number of other project issues are on the same trail but now the two counties are in dispute even over the matter of selection of the appropriate forum for dispute resolution. Besides, a number of issues, which were either inadequately dealt with in the Treaty or were not anticipated at all, such as effects of climate change and ground water depletion, have also surfaced compounding the water issues between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Temptation to use water as a weapon of political maneuvering is assuming alarming proportions. In 2016, the Indian Prime Minister threatened to choke the flow of water to Pakistan and went to the extent of saying, “blood and water cannot flow together”, while a section of society in Pakistan have not ruled out the possibility of a nuclear war in case the Indian threat is realized.

The book is based on a practitioner’s approach. It describes each recent issue of importance, how it arose, how efforts were made to resolve, why in certain cases bilateral efforts failed and how the cases were contested before third party fora of the Neutral Expert and the Court of Arbitration. Building on this insight and lessons learnt from these real-life experiences, the book suggests how to prevent water issues from escalation in future and hence the war.

About the Author

Ashfaq Mahmood, as federal secretary for Water and Power, Government of Pakistan, was responsible for addressing international trans-boundary waters issues, interprovincial water sharing, overseeing relevant institutions including Pakistan Commission for Indus Waters (PCIW), Indus River System Authority (IRSA) and Water and Power Development Authority of Pakistan. He had also been the Co-Chair of the Trilateral Dialogue between Pakistan, Afghanistan and US on Water Shed Management and Irrigation Technologies, Advisor to IUCN on Transboundary Issues and Hydro-diplomacy. He is a member of a number of Think Tanks.

During 2004-07 he led Pakistan’s team for talks with India on several water issues and for proceedings before the Neutral Expert for settling the dispute between the two countries in relation with the Baglihar Hydro Electric Plant. He was also involved in the preparation of the case on the issue of Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant which was subsequently adjudicated by the Court of Arbitration (CoA).