World Water Day

World Water Day is held on March 22 every year to find suitable means to tackle the water crisis. Today, there are over 663 million people who are living without a safe water supply. Millions others are spending countless hours  queuing or trekking to distant water sources and coping with the health impacts of using contaminated water. It is important to mention that the period between 2005 and 2015 was declared the decade of water cooperation by the UN where the concepts of transboundary water collaboration, shared waters and shared responsibilities were initiated. Co-riparian states were asked to share natural resources for the benefit for all. Pakistan and India are among the 145 countries that share common international basins. Decrease in water quality, climate change, migration, population influx and several other factors have influenced both the riparian states to develop water cooperation mechanisms to meet their challenges.

Ironically, India is currently constructing projects for water storage on Pakistani rivers. This is a breach of the Indus Waters Treaty and Pakistan must follow a two-pronged strategy. It must pursue this case with full vigour and build irrigation-cum-generation projects on River Indus. However, a permanent solution will involve a settlement of the Kashmir issue.

Afia Ambreen

Rawalpindi