As tensions escalate: India altering Chenab River flow, says Pakistan

LAHORE: Pakistan on Tuesday said India is altering the flow of the Chenab River, one of three rivers placed under Pakistan’s control according to the now-suspended Indus Waters Treaty. This development followed an announcement by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that water that previously was being sent outside the country would now be retained for internal use, days after New Delhi suspended a water-sharing pact with Pakistan.

This major river originates in India but was allocated to Pakistan under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, signed by the two nuclear powers.

Islamabad warned that tampering with its rivers would be considered “an act of war”. “We have witnessed changes in the river (Chenab) which are not natural at all,” Kazim Pirzada, irrigation minister for Punjab province, told AFP.

Punjab is the country’s agricultural heartland, and “the majority impact will be felt in areas which have fewer alternate water routes,” Pirzada warned. “One day the river had normal inflow and the next day it was greatly reduced,” Pirzada added. In Azad Kashmir, large quantities of water from India were reportedly released on April 26, according to the Jinnah Institute, a think tank led by a former Pakistani climate change minister. “This is being done so that we don’t get to utilise the water,” Pirzada added. The gates of the sluice spillways on the Baglihar Dam in IIOJK, which lies upstream of Punjab “have been lowered to restrict water flow ... as a short-term punitive action”, a senior Indian official has told The Indian Express.

The Indus Waters Treaty permits India to use shared rivers for dams or irrigation but prohibits diverting watercourses or altering downstream volumes. Indian authorities have not commented yet but Kushvinder Vohra, former head of India´s Central Water Commission, told The Times of India: “Since the treaty is on pause... we may do flushing on any project without any obligation”. Experts said the water cannot be stopped in the longer term, and that India can only regulate timings of when it releases flows. However, the Jinnah Institute warned: “Even small changes in the timing of water releases can disrupt sowing calendars (and) reduce crop yields”.In a related development, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the water that previously was being sent outside the country would now be retained for internal use. “Earlier, water belonging to India was also going outside. Now India’s water will flow in its share ... and be utilised for India itself,” Modi said while speaking at an event in New Delhi. Pakistan’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reuters has reported that India has advanced the start date of four under-construction hydropower projects in the Kashmir region by months as well as begun work to boost reservoir holding capacity at two projects.