BIG blow to Pakistan's economy? Kharif crop may be hit hard as India puts Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance because...

Pakistan has started paying price for escalating tensions with India and carrying out terrorist attack in Pahalgam. Pakistan's economy may suffer immensely with its kharif crop getting hit hard as the Indus River has dried and reduced to a trickle after India had put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance. The Indus is the main lifeline of Punjab, Sindh and the adjoining areas, which are highly fertile and are considered the food bowl of the country. No more. Pakistan will have to pay heavy prices. 

India releases less water in Indus

Pakistan’s Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has said in its recently published report that on June 16 India released just 1.33 lakh cusecs of water, 16.87% less than the 1.6 lakh cusecs released on the same day last year. Similarly, the province of Punjab also witnessed a decline of 2.25%. The shortfall is threatening to hit the kharif crop hard and devastate crop yields and rural incomes. The monsoon rains are still at least two weeks away and the standing crop may get dried by that time. 

Aftermath of Pahalgam terror attack

After the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 innocent and unarmed civilians were killed, India put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance. Besides stopping the flow of the river, it also halted the sharing of hydrological data with Pakistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in the most unequivocal terms that "blood and water cannot flow together". With this, the decades-old treaty was put on an indefinite hold, creating uncertainty downstream.

Instead of holding talks with India, Pakistan foolishly began to threaten it. Ex-Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari announced that either Pakistan's water or India's blood would flow in the Indus River. Pakistani officials threatened India to take the issue to the World Bank. 

Indus Waters Treaty

Brokered by the World Bank, the Indus Waters Treaty, governs the division of water in six rivers between the two nations. While India controls the three eastern rivers of Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej, Pakistan has rights over the western rivers of Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab. Though the IWT is considered tilted in favour of Pakistan, New Delhi always respected its provisions until this year’s suspension post-Pahalgam terror attack.