India has once again released water in the River Chenab without informing Pakistan. The water flow in the Chenab is currently above 58000 cusecs. According to the relevant authorities, India consciously released water to destroy Pakistan’s wheat crop.
The officials also said that India will now refill its dams to reduce the Chenab’s water, and it will definitely damage the wheat crop in Pakistan. The relevant authorities called this “water terrorism.”
India unilaterally suspended the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in May this year. The 1960 agreement, brokered by the World Bank, divided six rivers between the two countries, giving India control of the three eastern rivers and Pakistan control of the three western rivers.
The eastern rivers — the Beas, Ravi, and Sutlej — have a total average annual flow of 33 million acre-feet.
The western rivers — the Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum — together carry an average annual flow of 135 million acre-feet.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Water Resources informed the National Assembly on Monday that Pakistan’s per capita water availability has sharply declined due to rapid population growth.
Pakistan’s population grew by 40 million between 2017 and 2023, which reduced per capita water availability by 154 cubic meters. The ministry warned that the population may reach 288 million by 2030, further lowering per capita water availability to around 795 cubic meters a year.
Current per capita water availability stands at 679 cubic meters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 760 cubic meters in Punjab, 1,169 cubic meters in Sindh, and 928 cubic meters in Balochistan.
