War on Terror Partnership and Growing/Mounting/Increasing/Rising Militant Extremism in Pakistan
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Pak\'s Water Security
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- III. Indian Dams on the Western Rivers
II.
Increased Water Demand From 1961 up to 2011, the population of Pakistan has increased at an average growth rate of 2.61% which has slowed down to 1.81% from 2001- 2011. Despite the slowing down in the population growth rate, the per capita water availability in Pakistan has decreased from 5,260 cubic meters in 1951 to about 1,040 cubic meters in 2010. (Akhtar, 2013) Moreover, rapid urbanization and the change in life standards are additional factors that has resulted in water crises in Pakistan. The change in diet from simple to complex ones has resulted in more per capita caloric intake, which has, for example, increased from 1,812 calories in 1961-1963 to 2,340 calories per person in 2001-2003. (Akhtar, 2013) The burgeoning population and the rising demand for more water in future will further aggravate Pakistan’s quest for water security. III. Indian Dams on the Western Rivers For the first three years of the Indus negotiations (1951-1954), both India and Pakistan failed to agree to a common plan for the apportionment of the Indus River System. The World Bank then gave its own plan in February 1954 which is called the World Bank’s Plan of 1954. The Plan granted India “exclusive uses” of the Eastern Rivers, and Pakistan the “exclusive uses” of the Western Rivers only with limited Indian uses allowed on the river Jhelum (a Western River) in Kashmir. 3 However, in the later years of the Indus mediations, India demanded limited uses on the other two Western Rivers as well, especially for hydel generation. Pakistan 3 “Proposal by the International Bank Representative for a Plan for the Development and use of the Indus Basin Waters,” February 4, 1954. Pakistan’s Water Security: Contemporary Challenges and Options 129 resisted such Indian rights on the Western Rivers. John Briscoe elaborated on Pakistan’s anxieties as: Pakistan was well aware that the backbone of its economy was irrigated agriculture that was built around the natural flows of the rivers and thus worried that its security would be seriously compromised if India built dams which could alter the timing of water coming to Pakistan, especially from the Jhelum and the Chenab. (Briscoe et al, 2005) However, Pakistan failed and according to Article III Paragraph (2) of the IWT, India was asked to: …let flow all the waters of the Western Rivers, and shall not permit any interference with these waters, except for the following uses, …(a) Domestic Use; (b) Non- Consumptive Use; (c) Agricultural Use,… (d) Generation of hydroelectric power as set out in Annexure D. To address Pakistan’s quest for water security against possible Indian adverse manipulation of the structures allowed to India, Indian structures had to meet a set criterion set out in Annexure D of the Treaty. This criterion was the most critical Download 0.51 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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