Realising that the Kashmir issue has been milked to the hilt and there is now little support for the cause, Islamabad is relying on water to gain international sympathy. For the last one year or so, it has been running a well-oiled campaign about “big bully” India denying the farmers of Pakistan their rightful share of water.
In fact, Islamabad has gained some sympathy over this, with Western diplomats in New Delhi harping on the point.
The latest salvo came not from the government but from Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, whom India accuses of being the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack. He drummed up anti-India hysteria by saying on Sunday that New Delhi had “imposed war on Pakistan” by constructing illegal dams and diverting water from its rivers. He asked the Pakistani government to get ready to counter this “aggression”.
India refuted the charge on Tuesday. Water experts explained that New Delhi never deviated from the Indus Water Treaty first signed in 1960. It took eight years of intense negotiations to complete the treaty which has so far stood the test of time. Even during the 1965 and 1971 wars between India and Pakistan, it worked to the advantage of both countries.
The treaty allows India exclusive rights to the eastern Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers, while Pakistan has the rights to Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. But Islamabad is now accusing New Delhi of building dams and diverting water to farmers in India.
The truth, water experts said, was that Pakistan is trying to divert attention from internal political problems on sharing river water between its provinces and directing the wrath of its people to India.
In short, Balochistan and the North West Frontier Province are facing the consequences of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, taking the lion’s share of water. As anger among farmers mounts, the best way for Islamabad, according to Indian experts, is to blame New Delhi. This gives a different twist to the issue and sanitises the Pakistani establishment of blame.
