Water dispute can trigger Pakistan, India war: ex-US envoy

ISLAMABAD: The former US envoy to Pakistan Cameron Munter, on Wednesday, opinioned that India and Pakistan are likely to fight a war in future over sharing of water resources.

The former US ambassador was addressing a conference in Islamabad titled ‘Global Strategic Threat & Response’. Munter said that in his capacity as a former US envoy, he apprised his country of the issues faced by Pakistan. He said that Pakistan needs to refocus its economy on technology instead of having heavy reliance on the textile industry.

Throughout the world the profits from textile products are declining, said Munter. He added that Pakistani youth need to gain expertise in software and information technology. The former US envoy’s statements came in the backdrop of foreign media reports that India will no longer let its share of water to flow into Pakistan from December. India is planning to stop two TMC of water of the Ujh river which is a tributary of the Ravi River that flows through the Kathua district in Indian Occupied Kashmir. Basing the news on a source, an Indian media outlet claimed that a technical report has been prepared on it and is awaiting an official response to go ahead. Last year Indian Union Minister for Transport and Water Resources Nitin Gadkari stated that the government was planning to build three dams in Uttarakhand to stop India’s unused share of river water from flowing to Pakistan. The Indus Waters Treaty signed in 1960 gives India control over the three eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas and Sutlej) of the Indus basin while it gives Pakistan authority over the three western rivers (Indus, Jhelum and Chenab).

The treaty also guaranteed 10 years of uninterrupted water supply during this period Pakistan was to build dams. Pakistan successfully built Warsak Mangla and Tarbela dams.