India urged to release Pakistan's share of water

07 Oct, 2008

Indus Water Commissioner, Syed Jamaat Ali Shah on Monday urged the India to release Pakistan's share of water from their reservoir at Sutlej as Pakistan has documentary proves that its due share of water has been stolen from the river Chenab.
In an interview with Aaj TV, he said if India continues violations of Indus Water Treaty (IWT) then options were open for Pakistan to take the issue into the court of arbitration or to neutral experts.
He said the decision of neutral experts would be acceptable for Pakistan. "India should concede violations of Indus Water Treaty. If they does not accept the violations in treaty then it would be a big set back to treaty transpiring that India is not serious in implementing the Indus Water Treaty," he said.
This year shortage of water was recorded up to 0.2 million acre feet at Marala that posed serious threats to Rabi crops. The level of Mangla has also decreased due to release of additional water for Rabi crops, he said. The Indian Commissioner in a recent letter denied that they had violated the treaty saying that the water shortage was due to change of weather. In the upcoming meeting they (Indians) would be asked from where they had recently filled their dam, he added.

"If water were scarce then the Indus Treaty forbids from filling the reservoir and if they had filled their reservoir despite scarcity this was definitely from Pakistan's share," he opined. The delegation of Indus Water Treaty Commission intends to visit India from October 18 to 24 to inspect the sites and access the treaty violations from the Indians, he concluded.

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