On Asking about India Serve formal notice to Pakistan on Indus Water Treaty, former secretary of ministry of external affairs Rajiv Sikri replied that, ‘we have been quite unhappy with the functioning of indus water treaty and because whenever we tried to do any project on western rivers jhelum, chenab and indus even though the water used for irrigation purposes have to be use by pakistan. Pakistan has always created obstacles and many of our hydroelectric projects have been delayed or have not taken off because of this. Under the treaty there are provisions that two sides should meet and discuss the matter and if it cannot be resolved between the experts of two sides then we should go for a neutral expert and if that does not work we should go for arbitration.
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#induswatertreaty #india #pakistan #jhelum #chenab #ministryofexternalaffairs
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00:00Well, we have been quite unhappy with the functioning of the Indus Waters Treaty
00:08and because whenever we have tried to do any projects on the Western Rivers, Jhelum, Chenab, Indus,
00:18which we are entitled to have some projects there,
00:21even though the waters for irrigation purposes have to be used by Pakistan.
00:28Pakistan has always created obstacles and many of our hydroelectric projects have been delayed
00:35or have not taken off because of this.
00:38There was earlier the Baglihar, now there is the Kishanganga, the Ratle, the Kishanganga projects.
00:49So, under the treaty, there are provisions that the two sides should meet and discuss this matter
00:58and if it cannot be resolved between the experts of the two sides,
01:05then we should go for a neutral expert and if that does not work, then we go in for arbitration.
01:16Now, Pakistan wanted that this thing should go straight to arbitration.
01:21We said, no, it should go to a neutral expert.
01:24And then in 2022, the World Bank, which had mediated this agreement in 1960,
01:32said that they would have proceedings both of the neutral expert as well as of the arbitration.
01:41We said this is not acceptable to us, so we stayed away from the arbitration proceedings.
01:48Then in January last year, we sent a notice to Pakistan that we would like a modification of the treaty.
01:56So, what we have done now is a follow up of that,
01:59which is to say we want a review and a modification of the treaty
02:04and we have spelt out the reasons why we want a modification of the treaty,
02:11which are that our own needs have, this is what I can make out from the available public information,
02:19that our needs have grown because of the population has grown, demographic pressure.
02:26We also have to look into the environmental aspects
02:30and the impact that all this will have on our energy emission commitments under the Paris Agreement.
02:41And finally, we have said that because of cross-border terrorism,
02:45we are unable to fully utilize what we are entitled to.
02:51So, this is a major step that we have taken,
02:53because never before in the 64-year history of this Indus Waters Treaty have we done anything.
03:02I mean, despite all the wars we have fought and diplomatic relations breaking off,
03:08the talks on the Indus Water Treaty continued between India and Pakistan.
03:13So, this is, I think, a significant step.
03:16Meanwhile, we have also taken steps to build dams on the eastern rivers,
03:25also where we are entitled to utilize the waters fully, 100%.
03:30So, some dams are being built there.
03:33So, we have been taking steps to fully utilize our rights under the Indus Water Treaty as it exists.
03:42Now, we are saying we want to modify it, which means that we are not happy with the way it works.
03:46We also want to modify the dispute resolution mechanism,
03:51because, you know, you can't have a situation where there is a neutral expert and arbitration at the same time,
03:58and the World Bank is coming in where we think it doesn't have a role to play.
04:02Well, as I said, over the last eight or ten years,
04:06we have started work on some dams in the Beas and the Ravi and Satluj,
04:12to utilize the potential fully, which we are entitled to.
04:15Actually, under the…
04:17It is in west or it is in east?
04:18East. East.
04:20And the Indus Valley is in west?
04:22You see, there are six rivers.
04:24The Indus, Chenab and Jhelum waters can be used by Pakistan for irrigation purposes.
04:35We have some limited rights to use those waters,
04:40but on the eastern rivers, Ravi, Beas and Satluj, we are entitled to use 100% of the waters.
04:46But we haven't been able to do that,
04:48partly because we haven't built the dams,
04:51because there is seepage, underground seepage.
04:54In order to build dams on the eastern rivers,
04:58you need to invest money.
04:59It takes many years to build the dams.
05:02Now, the Bhakra Dam was built in 54, I think it was.
05:09After, no, six…
05:11I don't know, is it built, I don't know, 60 or something.
05:14After the Indus waters treaty, because we wanted to utilize that.
05:17Now, Bhakra Dam took a long time to build.
05:19A lot of investment is required.
05:21So, the government has to attach a certain priority to that also.
05:26Then we have problems internally in India,
05:30because Punjab doesn't want to share the waters with Haryana and Rajasthan.
05:35So, some dams like the Thien Dam and the Satluj-Yamuna Canal have not been built.
05:42So, we have our internal differences between the states
05:46and that is harmful for our national interest.