Water dispute: Punjab, Sindh agree on Arbitrators

Punjab and Sindh have agreed an audit of the water in the Indus Basin system including systems of both provinces through a Panel of Experts (PoE) whose results will be accepted by both parties. This consensus between the provinces was evolved after discussions in a panel headed by Khalid Hussain Magsi.

Chairman National Assembly Standing on Water Resources, Nawab Yousuf Talpur had constituted the panel to discuss the distribution of water amongst the provinces. Federal Member (IRSA) Asjad Imtiaz Ali was entrusted to mediate between Members of IRSA from Sindh and Punjab for resolution of water distribution issues between Sindh and Punjab.

According to the report, essence of which was shared with the committee members, in compliance of the directions, detailed meetings were held on November 19, 2019, December 16, 2019 and finally on January 20, 2020. Both members Sindh and Punjab elaborated their points of view and stated their arguments. Presentations were made and issues/ concerns of both the provinces were brought forward by the members.

The brief shared with the committee says 'as this is an issue of strategic importance and has been discussed ever since the Water Apportionment Accord, 1991 and subsequent establishment of IRSA, an amicable way forward was sought to settle this long outstanding issue.'

In the final meeting held on January 20, 2020, the following unanimous decisions were taken: (i) an audit of the water in the Indus Basin system would be carried out; (ii) the audit would be done for the entire system and for the provincial systems of Punjab and Sindh; (iii) for this purpose, a POE, acceptable to both provinces would be chosen. It was also agreed that both the provinces would accept the results formulated by the POE; (iv) POE would undertake measurements at Thal Canal, Taunsa, Guddu, Sukkur and Kotri barrages along with measurements at Patfeeder and Kirther canals and B-S, M-R and T-S Link canals, as previous readings/measurements at these sites were not acceptable to Member IRSA Sindh; and (v) IRSA team would conduct surprise checks/visits of agreed sites.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Water Resources discussed the water issue briefly and decided to submit its recommendations in the forthcoming meeting after going through the detailed report.

The representative of Balochistan government informed the committee that in the previous meeting, Balochistan had insisted that the water issues between Balochistan and Sindh should also be included in the report. However, this was not made part of the committee's terms of reference.

The committee appreciated the efforts of convener of the committee, Khalid Magsi for bringing provinces on one page for audit of the water. Khawaja Asif, PML (N) Parliamentary Leader stated that there is a special need for an awareness campaign on water conservation adding that Pakistan has sufficient water but there is a need to utilize it judiciously and "if we succeed in doing so, 35 per cent or 40 per cent water can be conserved." He said, "water terrorism by India is mere a myth."

In Pakistan vehicles are washed with drinking water and people even keep the tap open while shaving thus wasting water. He cited former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar who showered with one bucket.

Khawaja Asif further stated that local electronic media should air public service message on the need for water conservation. He said, millions of rupees were spent on Diamer Bhasha project "drama" and the monetization of time spent on campaign of Dasu and Mohmand will be in millions if not billions of rupees.

The committee sought details of amount spent on the Diamer Bhasha campaign including abroad. The representative of Ministry of Water Resources informed the committee that a letter has been written to the Supreme Court Registrar in this regard. A reminder has also been sent to SC but no response has been received so far.

Director PEMRA informed the committee that all the satellite television channels allocated total airtime of 355,018 minutes during the period from July 2018 to October 2019 for public service messages on collection of Diamer Bhasha and Mohmand Dam fund, free of cost in support of a national cause and created public awareness on water scarcity and conservation as well as highlighted the need for constructing new dams.

The committee directed the Director PEMRA to write letters to the State Bank of Pakistan and/or Supreme Court to allocate money on an awareness campaign. Standing Committee directed the Ministry of Water Resources to provide an implementation status of the National Water Policy approved during the previous government.

Chairman IRSA informed the committee that due to recent rains, there is no shortage in the share of provinces. Balochistan's designated member informed the committee that his province was facing 25 per cent shortfall for the last few months despite zero shortage. Special Secretary Irrigation Sindh, (the province releases Balochistan's share from Sukkur Barrage) provided several justifications for releasing less water prompting Chairman Standing Committee to direct Sindh to release due share of Balochistan.

During discussion, Khalid Magsi said "we opposed Kalabagh Dam with Sindh at every forum but if our share is not given, then we don't have any objection to the project."

Chairman Standing Committee argued that all the federating units should be given water according to their share. Chairman IRSA, Dawood Khan said that he as Secretary Irrigation KP had raised objections on the report of Attorney General and presence of Chief Minister Sindh in the committee meeting constituted to formulate report on three tiers formula of water distribution.

During discussion on installation of new telemetry system, Member IRSA informed the committee that the system established in 2003 by Wapda did not give accurate measurement of water releases which was proved manually. The new telemetry system will be established by IRSA from its own resources as the World Bank's recommended firm did not perform well in Punjab and government decided not go for funding from World Bank.

The committee was informed that system will be installed in two and half years' time. However, the committee urged that as it was very important for confidence building between the provinces, hence, installation time should be shortened.

Khawaja Saad Rafique who was brought from jail to attend the meeting urged IRSA officials to complete the project within a minimum time period citing completion of Railways projects within the shortest time period when he was minister with the help of the bureaucracy. Member IRSA committed that all possible efforts would be made to shorten the completion period.

The committee deferred the issue of "Chirrah Dam" and decided to take up this item in its next meeting.

Besides others, the meeting was attended Ch Shaukat Ali Bhatti,. Muhammad Farooq Azam Malik, Ch Javed Iqbal Warraich, Ms Naureen Farooq Khan, Ms. Nuzhat Pathan, Khalid Hussain Magsi, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Ch Riaz-ul-Haq, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Ehsan-ur-Rehman Mazari, Munir Khan Orakzai.