The dying civilisation of River Sutlej

Part - I
Sutlej was once a thriving river, catering to vast fertile lands, green orchards and vibrant livestock in Bahawalpur. Today it is nothing but a dry and barren passage, telling a tale of sheer ignorance, injustice and ill-fated conspiracies hatched by friends and foes.
But the misery has not been limited to the river itself or its habitat. Rather, the riverbank – once a source of life for humans, plants and diverse species of wildlife – now only reflects drought, famine and death.
The tragedy started back in 1960 when the governments of Pakistan and India signed the Indus Waters Treaty. Under the agreement, Pakistan surrendered its three eastern rivers to India – Ravi, Bias and Sutlej – and opted for two western rivers – Chenab and Jhelum – to feed its lands. But the then policymakers ironically forgot to note that Sutlej was the only river feeding the vast agricultural fields of the Bahawalpur region.
The surrender of River Sutlej was not made in isolation. Rather, the following years confirmed that it was really the result of a specific mindset that laid the foundation for all future injustices and discriminations meted out to the region of Bahawalpur – giving birth to a great human and environmental tragedy.
Soon after that treaty, India blocked Sutlej and Bias waters flowing into Pakistan from the Ferozepur Headworks. This transformed Sutlej into an utter desert path, without a drop of water. This water blockade terribly affected the agricultural, social and political economy of Bahawalpur region. When convenient, India releases floodwaters into Sutlej from Ferozepur headworks which create more devastation and destruction to an already suffering population of Bahawalpur.
Under international laws, India is a major culprit. Under the United Nations International Watercourse Convention no country has the right to completely block any natural watercourse.
Under the Indus Waters Treaty, India was to release adequate water into River Sutlej – a minimum water level to help save human and river life.
The UN convention binds all member states not to leave the riverbed dry as the water blockade endangers the entire civilisation on the riverbanks. By completely blocking the river water, India is still violating the UN International Watercourse Convention – in particular articles 7, 10, 20, 21, 22, and 23.
Under the Indus Waters Treaty, India could have cut the agricultural waters of rivers Sutlej and Bias, but it could not have entirely blocked the river water. Moreover, India had to release adequate river water to ensure environmental and human lives. On the contrary, under the Indus Waters Treaty, India cuts seven percent waters from rivers Chenab and Jhelum flowing into Pakistan for its environmental and domestic use. However, when it comes to Pakistan, India does not leave seven percent water in the Sutlej, Ravi and Bias riverbeds. This violation of the treaty also gives impetus to allegations about Indian hegemonic trends.
But the injustice to Bahawalpur is not restricted to India. Successive governments in Pakistan have also turned a blind eye towards Bahawalpur and its people.
It was decided in Article (IV)1 of the Indus Waters Treaty that as an alternative to the eastern rivers surrendered to India, Pakistan was to carve out five new link canals to help ensure water provision to areas falling near abandoned rivers Sutlej, Ravi and Bias.
Those link canals included the Marala-Ravi link canal, the Baloki-Sulemanki link canal, BRBD link canal, the Rasool-Qadirabad-Balloki link canal and the Trimu-Islam link canal. The Trimu Canal was supposed to provide water to Head Islam with a capacity of 20,000 cusecs.
Pakistan received over Rs36 billion for the construction of this alternative irrigation infrastructure. Ironically, all canals proposed under this treaty were built as planned except the Trimu–Islam link canal – the only canal dedicated to providing water to Head Islam and sub canals for the irrigation of the Bahawalpur-Cholistan region.
Under Article 2 of this treaty, the clarification of which is present in Annexure H Paragraph 2, the deadline to build this alternative canal was March 31, 1967. However, even today after passing about half a century, work on this canal is still pending.
This has turned the centuries-old 300km long Sutlej river – from Head Sulemanki to Head Panjnad – into a barren desert. Moreover, the regions of Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yar Khan, Lodhran and Pakpattan today are facing fast decreasing levels of underground water.
To be continued
The writer is a former information minister and senator.
Email: muhammadalidurrani@hotmail.com