With the completion of the Shahpurkandi barrage on the river Ravi in the Indian state of Punjab, concerns are rising in downstream Pakistan. The dam, proposed three decades ago, has the potential to irrigate 5,000 hectares of agricultural land in Punjab and over 32,000 hectares in India-held Jammu and Kashmir. However, it will also halt the flow of river water to downstream Pakistan, leading to accusations of ‘water war-mongering’ in Pakistani newspapers.
The Ravi is one of the six rivers of the Indus basin governed by the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). Signed in 1960 between India and Pakistan, the IWT is one of only two major transboundary water treaties in South Asia, considered a success of water diplomacy.
The Third Pole invited experts Erum Sattar from Pakistan and Uttam Kumar Sinha from India to discuss the implications of this development for the IWT and the long-term ecological impacts on the Indus basin.
