The India-Pakistan Water Nexus.

Byline: Amir Khan

There is no life without water and water is the oil of the 21st century. Globally there are approximately 263 transboundary river basins and 300 transboundary aquifers. Unfortunately, almost two-thirds of the world's trans-boundary rivers do not have a cooperative management framework thereby giving rise to conflict and internally displaced people. The United Nations recognizes that water disputes result from "opposing interests of water users, public or private".

Water conflicts are nothing new to mankind, a water conflict database developed by the Pacific Institute lists violence over water going back nearly 6,000 years. These conflicts occur over both freshwater and saltwater, and both between and within nations. However, conflicts occur mostly over freshwater; primarily freshwater resources are necessary, yet scarce, they are the center of water disputes arising out of the need for potable water, irrigation, and energy generation. Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) was signed on September 19, 1960, between India and Pakistan and brokered by the World Bank. The treaty fixed and delimited the rights and obligations of both countries concerning the use of the waters of the Indus River system.

The Indus River rises in the southwestern Tibet Autonomous Region of China and flows through He suggested that India and Pakistan should work toward an agreement to jointly develop and administer the Indus River system, possibly with advice and financing from the World Bank. Eugene Black, who was then the president of the World Bank, agreed. At his suggestion, engineers from each country formed a working group, with engineers from the World Bank offering advice. Political considerations, however, prevented even these technical discussions from agreeing. In 1954 the World Bank submitted a proposal for a solution to the impasse. After six years of talks, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistani President Ayub Khan signed the Indus Waters Treaty in September 1960.

Globally there are approximately 263 trans boundary river basins and 300 trans boundary aquifers. Unfortunately, almost two-thirds the world's trans-boundary rivers do not have a cooperative management framework thereby giving rise to conflict and internally displaced people. The that United water Nations recognizes for irrigation since immemorial. The Indo-Pak partition in 1947 resulted in the creation of an independent India and Pakistan.

The water system was thus...