The Dawn

Which wins? Indian Kishanganga vs. Pakistan’s Jhelum dam–one survives

Bharat is illegally building the Kishan Ganga dam on rivers that were given to Pakistan. There is a historical record of this. Indus Water Treaty, Kalabagh, Kashmir, & Gurdaspur.

Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh are victims of Indian water thievery. India has dispute with Bangladesh over Farraka Barrage, with Nepal over Mahakali River and with Pakistan over 1960 Indus Treaty. What can you expect from a country which stoops to lowest level of immorality by stealing water and blocking rivers to turn agricultural lands of its neighbour barren? Without any qualms, India is busy building dams on all rivers flowing into Pakistan from occupied Kashmir to regain control of water of western rivers in violation of Indus Treaty. This is being done under well thought out strategy to render Pakistan’s link-canal system redundant, destroy agriculture of Pakistan which is its mainstay and turn Pakistan into a desert.

It is because of our survival resting on rivers that Kashmir has been referred to as Pakistan’s jugular vein. India has plans to construct 62 dams/hydro-electric units on Rivers Chenab and Jhelum thus enabling it to render these rivers dry by 2014. Taking advantage of its influence over Afghanistan, India has succeeded in convincing Karzai regime to build a dam on River Kabul and setup Kama Hydroelectric Project using 0.5MAF of Pakistan water. It has offered technical assistance for the proposed project which will have serious repercussions on the water flow in River Indus

• The project that will be commissioned first will receive top priority
• India’s state-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) to complete Kishanganga by 2016
• Pakistan’s Neelam-Jhelum project is to be completed by 2017

NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan are racing to complete the 330MW Kishanganga and the 960MW Neelam-Jhelum power projects, respectively, as the Indus Water Treaty does not permit for both projects to operate simultaneously.

The plans made available to Daily Times reveal the Indian project would divert the River Neelam to Wullar Lake, leaving very little water for the Pakistani project, which is a mere 70 kilometres downstream from the Indian Kishanganga project. According to the Indus Water Treaty, the project commissioned first would be accorded top priority. In the case of Pakistan, this would likely mean that the Neelam-Jhelum project would have to be abandoned, as the Kishanganga project would leave very little water for Pakistan to use.

Currently, India’s state-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) has set 2016 as its deadline for the project, while Pakistan plans to complete its project in 2017. “We will complete our project by 2016 at an estimated cost of Rs 36.42 billion,” Indian-held Kashmir junior Power Minister Shabir Ahmed Dar told journalists. He said the NHPC had been directed to expedite its project and commission it before Pakistan had a chance to complete the Neelam-Jhelum project. Pakistan had protested the construction of the Kishanganga project earlier this year, arguing it would adversely affect 133,209 hectares of agricultural land in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. India, Pakistan race to finish hydel projects By Iftikhar Gilani. Daily Times.

All negotiations between Pakisan and India on Kashmir have failed. India used a forged instrument of accession and occupied kashmir. Azad Kashmir and Norhtern Areas were liberated. India also occupied Hydrabad, Manvadar, and Junagarh. There is no agreement on Kashmir, Sir Creek, Siachin, and Wullar Barrage. Why would Kishanganga be different.

The controversial Baglihar Dam started in 1999 on River Chenab in Doda of IHK. Pakistan took the case to World Bank. The World Bank expert Raymond Lafitte approved the project in February 2007 but asked India to reduce height of the Dam by one and half meters. Baglihar Dam can block 7000 cusecs of water per day whenever India wishes to.

India has already built 14 hydroelectric plants on Chenab River and is building more plants which will enable it to block entire water of Chenab for 20-25 days. These dams have also enabled India to release huge quantity of water downstream to not only cause damage to standing crops but also to our canal systems.

Chenab River provides water to 21 canals and irrigates about 7 million acres of agriculture land in Punjab.

Storage of water in Baglihar Dam reduced the flow of water in Chenab River during the sowing period of August to October 2008 and badly affected the agriculture sector of Pakistan. Pakistan lost 23000 cusecs of water; farmers could not irrigate their fields due to shortage of water and resultantly 3.5 million agriculture tracts got barren. The standing cotton, paddy crops of basmati rice of Kharif season in Punjab which were ripe got badly affected because of absence of water.

The sowing of next crop of wheat in September-October also got affected and so was the case with Rabi crop in January-February this year due to reduced flow of water. India has turned a deaf ear to our repeated requests for compensation and failed to provide data about water storage and release of Baglihar Dam. India has got away with this broad daylight robbery of water and intends to make it into a routine affair.

Pakistan, India fail to bridge differences: Kishan-Ganga project By Ahmad Fraz Khan

LAHORE, June 2: Pakistan and India will hold the next round of talks on the Kishan-Ganga project in the third week of July and if the talks fail the issue may be referred to a third party for arbitration.

The second round of talks between Indus commissioners of the two countries concluded here on Monday without any progress on objections to the project raised by Pakistan. The two sides discussed the issues of flushing of dam and gated or un-gated structure but failed to resolve them.

The Indian side, which promised to respond to the Pakistani request of setting a timeframe for the dialogue, agreed to meet again in the third week next month.

Technicalities of the Indus basin treaty invaded the dialogue when Pakistan insisted that its six objections had formally been converted into “questions for arbitration”. The Indian side, however, requested to treat them as mere objections, a step before invoking the third party arbitration.

The two sides stuck to their points of view, Pakistan treating them as questions and India as objections, and held two days of talks which proved to be inconclusive.

India is constructing Kishanganga Dam on River Jhelum. It has now planned three dams on River Indus which will have devastating impact on Pakistan’s Northern Areas. These are Nimoo Bazgo, Dumkhar, and Chutak. Work on Nimoo Bazgo hydropower project, 70 km from Leh is already underway.

Chutak is under construction on River Suru. In case any of these dams collapse or large quantity of water is deliberately released, it will not only endanger our proposed Bhasha Dam but also submerge Skardu city and airport. KKH between Besham and Jaglot would wash away.

The world powers led by US preaching morality turn a blind eye to this blatant immorality. Pakistan will however not allow its land to turn barren at the hands of a depraved bully. It is an existential threat posed by India which 170 million Pakistanis would fight to the last to defeat its nefarious designs.Water theft by India pose an existential threat to Pakistan. Published by editor Pakistan Jul 14, 2009 By Asif Haroon Raja

Pakistan’s Indus Commissioner Syed Jamaat Ali Shah told dawn that the process was inching towards conclusion. “Both sides have agreed that the issue should be resolved at the commissioners’ level and third party arbitration must be avoided. It reflects sincerity of purpose on both sides.”

The Indian side had revised the design after objections from Pakistan and made it a run-of-the-river project.

Pakistan also raised objections to the new design and insisted that under the Indus Basin Water Treaty India could not divert Kishan-Ganga water to Wuller barrage, where it was building an 800MW hydro-power project.

Pakistan raised six objections and then formalised them as questions which are now under discussion.

“Pakistan is ready to concede reasonable time so that the Indian side could come up with the required data, but the process cannot be allowed to linger on,” Mr Shah said. That was why Pakistan was asking for a timeframe as happened in 2004 and India revised the design in 2005, he added.

“Pakistan received data on all its objections but it was incomplete which gave way to fresh objections,” said an insider.

The issue appears to be going the Baghlihar way – the third party arbitration. The Indian side got away with the Baghlihar dam in spite of it being in clear violation of the treaty.

The Indians seemed more inclined towards arbitration than resolving the issue at the commissioners’ level, he said, adding that the optimism on the Pakistani side could be misplaced because the Indians were not expected to address all six objections during the July round.

“Pakistan should prepare for arbitration, but certainly after the July round.”

Siachin was part of Pakistan ’till the 80s

The Indian position on Siachin is untenable, illogical and defies all sense of fair play. Why would the line of control take a perpendicular turn and begin moving deep into Pakitani Kashmir, instead of moving North to China?

Filed under: India, Pakistan , Kishanganga to be completed in 2016