Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has told the three-day International Conference on Glaciers’ Preservation that Pakistan will not allow the crossing of a red line by India, of holding in abeyance the Indus Waters Treaty, and as a result holding hostage millions of people for political gains. The problem is, the red line has been crossed, especially as there is no one to hold India’s nose to the grindstone, and ensure that it obeys the Treaty, which is now well into its seventh decade. By holding the IWT in abeyance, India has in effect cancelled it, because it has not said what Pakistan had to do to get India to start obeying it once again. At the moment, Pakistan is waiting for the other shoe to drop. There have been indications of Indian misuse of Pakistan’s water by storing it and them releasing it, India will bot be able to do much damage until it has built the projects necessary to so control the Indus waters that it can create a flood or cause a drought at will. It can also use this for military purposes, turning a potential battlefield into a morass whenever it wills. It can also use floodwater as a weapon, to be unleashed on Pakistani armored or infantry formations in its path.
However, Mr Sharif was right to look to the people behind this military maneuvering. For Pakistan, that water does not represent a military obstacle but the survival of millions of Pakistanis depending on that water for irrigation. It should not be forgotten that the IWT was nothing really new, but merely an application of existing international law to the Indus Basin Waters. Even though India has failed in its first objective, that of showing Pakistan that it could hit it whenever it wished, it has managed to lay the basis for the IWT to be held in abeyance.
Pakistan must be vigilant at further Indian moves following up its IWT action. Just as its armed forces showed that they could defend the country’s territory against Indian aggression, they must also be ready to keep the water of the country flowing. The country must be prepared for adverse circumstances, and when push comes to shove, Pakistan is less likely to show the respect for international law which saw its putting restraints of the rules of engagement. Water is serious business after all.
