Indus water treaty unlikely to be revoked

ISLAMABAD: If India decides to unilaterally revoke the Indus Water Basin Treaty (IWBT) for which there are apparently not bright chances, it will renege on its own obligation noted in this agreement.

The September 1960 treaty says its provisions or its clauses modified by the two governments “shall continue in force until terminated by a duly ratified treaty concluded for that purpose between the two governments.”

On Monday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met senior officials to review the IWBT with a view to punishing Pakistan by blocking water flows to it, obviously in violation of the 56-year old treaty.

However, the IWBT says the treaty may from time to time be modified by a duly ratified treaty concluded for that purpose between the two governments. In addition, it says each of the two parties – Pakistan and India - agrees that it will not invoke the treaty, anything contained therein, or anything arising out of the execution, thereof, in support of any of its own rights or claims whatsoever or in disputing any of the rights or claims whatsoever of the other party, other than those rights or claims which are expressly recognized or waived in the IWBT.

The IWBT is a water-distribution treaty between Pakistan and India, brokered by the World Bank (then the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development). It was signed in Karachi on September 19, 1960 by President Ayub Khan and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

According to the agreement, control over the three eastern rivers — Beas, Ravi and Sutlej — was given to India, while control over the three western rivers — Indus, Chenab and Jhelum — to Pakistan.

The treaty between has survived two wars of 1965 and 1971 between Pakistan and India, apart from high tensions frequently intensifying between them since the agreement was inked. UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson recently underlined that water also represents a source of cooperation and not just conflict. His remarks came at a General Assembly high-level side event on “water as a source of peace” even as the IWBT cropped up amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over the Uri army base episode.

“In the second half of the 20th century, more than 200 water treaties were successfully negotiated. The 1960 Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan has survived two wars, and remains in force today,” Eliasson said. “In Africa, collaboration in the management of water resources has a long history.”

When asked if the government will rethink on the IWBT given the growing strain between the two countries, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup was quoted as saying that it cannot be a one-sided affair and noted that the preamble of the treaty itself said it was based on “goodwill”.

A report in Indian media said that any attempt at revoking the IWBT – which gives lower riparian Pakistan more “than four times” the water available to India – might invoke similar actions from China on the Brahmaputra.

Former Indian foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal was quoted as saying that the IWBT “is international treaty and we are a responsible country and can’t behave irresponsibly at the international level.”

The IWBT preamble states that the governments of Pakistan and Indian, being equally desirous of attaining the most complete and satisfactory utilization of the waters of the Indus system of rivers and recognizing the need, therefore, of fixing and delimiting, in a spirit of goodwill and friendship, the rights and obligations of each in relation to the other concerning the use of these waters and of making provision for the settlement in a cooperative spirit of all such questions as may hereafter arise in regard to the interpretation or application of the provision agreed upon therein, have resolved to conclude a treaty in furtherance of these objectives, and for this purpose have named their plenipotentiaries – Ayub Khan and Nehru – who, having communicated to each other their respective full powers and having found them in good and due form have agreed upon the IWBT articles and annexures.