The Indo-Pakistan Water Conflict

Dec 26, 2016 | Dr. Waseem Ahmad Qureshi
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The Indo-Pakistan water conflict dates back to 1948, when India first blocked the river water flow to Pakistan and threatened the agrarian system of the time. The bone of contention between India and Pakistan is Kashmir, neither country being willing to renounce its claim on the state due to the origin of river waters from this region. India’s human rights violations in Kashmir, its misappropriation of assets, which were allocated to Pakistan during partition, its unilateral action in Hyderabad and Junagarh states and its violations of the Indus Water Treaty are some of the examples of its attitude towards human rights and its bilateral agreements with Pakistan. Shockingly, India is planning to deprive Pakistan of access to water despite the fact that water is a basic human right. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently issued a statement: Water belonging to India cannot go to Pakistan. India cannot, in practice, stop all of the water from flowing to Pakistan because doing so could cause flooding in the Indian states; however, Modi has expressed a strong conviction that the rivers that flow through India belong only to India and that their water should not go to Pakistan.