New Water Policy and Practice Volume 1, Number 2 - Spring 2015 | Page 55

New Water Policy and Practice

These amendments have also tried to strengthen, the weak structures of CCI, to
resolve inter-provincial water conflicts in Pakistan. Despite these arrangements, water
disputes between two provinces are still there.

Conclusion

T

his paper has discussed the continuity of water disputes between Punjab and
Sindh, since British colonial times. Since then, one of the major reasons for
dispute is over reliance on supply-side management of water resources. The
situation is same, even today. It is being alleged that through multi-purpose projects,
Punjab diverts water or choke off the spigots. There are about 19 barrages and 43 canal
systems with 48 off-takes on the IRS in Pakistan, creating world’s largest contiguous
man-made system of 61,000 km of canals and 105,000 water courses, irrigating 35
million acres of land (Memon 2002). Three storage reservoirs are also built, at Mangla
on River Jehlum, at Tarbella, and at Chashma on river Indus, with total storage capacity
of 20 MAF. Additionally, 12 link canals are built to transfer water from western rivers
to eastern rivers or to the tributaries of the River Indus (ibid). Such a large number of
hydrological projects give little space to natural flow of river. This system was exposed
during 2010 flood when barrages like Taunsa, constructed to meet such challenges,
failed to stop it (Shah 2011). Even in 2014 when floods occurred in Indian and Pakistan
side of Jammu and Kashmir, these structures failed to do so. Instead, they were reasons
for 2014 floods. The stake holders have used these structures to divert water in their
interests instead of providing a space to the rivers for free flow. The silts have never
been cleaned from the canals because it may affect the close-by agricultural lands. As
the soil fail to hold on water, even a slight rise of water level leads to flood. To meet
this sort of challenge, the feudal control over the canals and decision over it have to be
checked by the Pakistani state.

Most of the hydrological constructions are cause of disputes between Punjab
and Sindh. Kalabagh, in Mianwali district of Punjab bordering Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
is one of the most controversial multi-purpose project in Pakistan. In March 2011,
three provincial assemblies—Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan—have
passed a resolution against its commissioning (Daily Times 2011). Punjab wants not
just Kalabagh, but also two more large dams on the Indus, at Bhasha and Skardu/
Katzarah. It feels that the Kalabagh site is the most favourable, compared with the
other two, and that it should be built finally (Abbasi and Kazi 2000). The Lahore
Chamber of Commerce and Industry has estimated that the dam would produce
enough energy to obviate the need to import 20 million barrels of oil (Vaughn et
al. 2010). Another controversial multi-purpose project, which has been resolved, in
Pakistan was Diamer-Bhasha. Its construction was opposed by Sindh but in 2014,
CCI cleared it after breaking the impasse over it. In addition to these projects in
August 2000 the federal cabinet of Pakistan approved the Vision-2025 programme to
develop its water infrastructure, which has to be implemented in three phases. Priority
hydroelectric generations project in phase I includes: Jinnah, Malankhand-III, Allai
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