Water disaster in making
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India's obsession to settle scores with Pakistan is going over the board. It seems to be completely unmindful of international commitments as well as norms of diplomacy and neighbourhood. Home Minister Amit Shah's threat not to restore the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Islamabad, and continue to divert the water flowing to Pakistan to other Indian states is a step beyond foolishness, and speaks of the BJP coterie's tendency of playing to the gallery.
Such suspension is not possible under the nomenclature of the World Bank and global conventions for a lower riparian state. Delhi is also trying to influence nature by forcefully diverting the surplus flow from the three western rivers of the Indus water system, and by mulling construction of a 113km long canal on its pathway.
Pakistan is already suffering from water stress since India has taken this bizarre unilateral step. Islamabad's call to talk it out in the backdrop of the recent four-day war has fallen on deaf ears. The stand-off, nonetheless, has also attracted some domestic interplay as Omar Abdullah, Occupied Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister, has vented his anger over the flawed strategy of diverting water from his state, while it is in the midst of a drought. This row is, sooner than later, going to become an intra-state ordeal, mounting a climatic catastrophe in the region. To what extent is Delhi willing to go with the tide of anger and invite disaster on its own riverine system as well as hydropower installations is anybody's guess.
As for Pakistan, it seeks a dialogue with India so as to discuss all irritants in bilateralism. That is why it was receptive to the mediation brokered by US President Donald Trump, and is willing to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize too in recognition of his diplomatic strides. The only way ahead for India is to desist from escalating the situation and resort to logic in the water domain. The flimsy conception of holding back water from the glaciers for long in its north is an assured precursor to disaster.
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