Posted on 05/19/2002 11:05:37 AM PDT by Ranger
Srinagar, May 18: With just a day to go for the scheduled yearly meeting of the Indo-Pak Permanent Indus Commission, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, I D Swami, has said that India is weighing options about modifying Indus Water Treaty as a measure to "exert political and economic pressure on Pakistan".
Speaking to a cable news network this morning, the Minister said that India must use the Indus waters as a strategic weapon for extracting political concessions from Pakistan. The latest Indian comments have raised apprehensions that the May 20 Indo-Pak Indus meet could be shelved.
The yearly meeting is being convened after intese diplomatic efforts by Islamabad, particularly for voicing its concerns on the continued construction on the Baglihar Hydropower Project, the Kishenganga Hydel Project, the Shyok Dam in Ladakh and also the recent J&K assembly’s demand for abrogation of the Indus Water Treaty.
The Indo-Pak tensions revolving around their water sharing arrangement have risen in the backdrop of a recent UN report which has identified India-Pakistan dispute over Indus one among the 300 potential armed conflicts over water around the world.
Recent reports about India’s plans about diverting of Chinab river in Himachal Pradesh by constructing a dam at Basholi-Pathankot axis have evoked strong reactions in Pakistan.
Apart from including such an Indian step among the possible scenarios in which it would use its nuclear weapons against India, a recent report in The Dawn has quoted former federal Finance Minsiter of Pakistan as saying that Pakistan might use deep penetration suicide missions to destroy whatever infrastructure India would raise for stopping water flow to Pakistan.
"If irrigation water supplies from the Indus system to Pakistan were reduced even by one per cent, it would cause starvation threat for a population of one million four hundred thousand people", a water specialist was quoted in The Dawn as saying.
Pakistan is also likely to raise its objections on the Kishenganga hydel project as it believes it affects its own Neelam-Jhelum power generating unit in its Punjab province.
What has added to Pakistani worries is the Khapala Dam being constructed in the Ladakh region on the Shoyak River - a tributary of Indus entering Baltistan. Pakistan says that the dam would have a "detrimental effect" on the proposed Basha Dam on the traverse course of the Indus in Diamer District in the Chilas region of the Northern Areas. Pakistan is already facing stiff resistance from the tribal people of Chilas due to the likely submersion of vast tracts of land due to the Bhasha Reservior. India’s standpoint has been consistent: that all these constructions do not fall within the ambit of the agreements made by the two countries in the Indus Water Treaty.
GK News Service
Islamabad, May 18: Water supply to the entire Islamabad town was disrupted today after the main pipeline at Iqbal Abaad suffered damage following a blast this morning.
Eyewitnesses said an improvised explosive device (IED) went of at about 9 a.m. today when a BSF vehicle passed by. The IED had been planted in the water main. Though the vehicle escaped unscathed, the pipeline was damaged disrupting the water supply to the entire town.
Following the incident, the town dwellers have started drawing water from the streams in Sher Bagh. Consumers from the outlying localities have pressed into service three-wheelers, tongas and hand carts to carry water to their homes. The historic Sher Bagh is witnessing a heavy rush of people as a result.
According to a spokesman of PHE department, the main 450 mm dia pipe line got damaged as a result of mine blast near Krungsoo because of which water supply to the town shall remain affected.
Meanwhile the restoration has been started on war footing and it will be completed in a day or so. The spokesman expressed regrets for the inconvenience caused to the people.
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/six.htm
Srinagar, May 18: With just a day to go for the scheduled yearly meeting of the Indo-Pak Permanent Indus Commission, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, I D Swami, has said that India is weighing options about modifying Indus Water Treaty as a measure to "exert political and economic pressure on Pakistan".Why would India allow any water to flow into Pakistan?
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