Former US envoy to Pakistan Cameron Munter said on Wednesday that in his opinion, India and Pakistan are likely to fight a war in future over sharing of water resources.
The former US ambassador was addressing a conference in Islamabad, titled “Global Strategic Threat & Response”.Munter said that in his capacity as a former US envoy, he apprised his country about the issues faced by Pakistan.
The former US envoy’s statements come in the backdrop of foreign media reports that India will no longer let its share of water to flow into Pakistan from December. India is planning to stop two TMC of water of the Ujh river, which is a tributary of the Ravi river that flows through the Kathua district in Indian Occupied Kashmir. Basing the news on a source, an Indian media outlet claimed that a technical report has been prepared on it and is awaiting an official response to go ahead. Last year, Indian Union Minister for Transport and Water Resources Nitin Gadkari stated that the government was planning to build three dams in Uttarakhand to stop India’s unused share of river water from flowing to Pakistan.
Indus Water Treaty
The Indus Waters Treaty signed in 1960, gives India control over the three eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas and Sutlej) of the Indus basin while it gives Pakistan authority over the three western rivers (Indus, Jhelum and Chenab). The treaty also guaranteed ten years of uninterrupted water supply, during this period Pakistan was to build dams. Pakistan successfully built Warsak, Mangla and Tarbela dams.
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