Senator Sherry Rehman on Monday said that the \u201cweaponisation of water was neither sane nor acceptable\u201d after Indian media reported that New Delhi had approved a hydel power project on the Chenab River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a post on the social media platform X, the PPP leader said, \u201cIn flagrant violation of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), India has just given approval to the Dulhasti Stage-II hydropower project on the Chenab River in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs per the IWT, which cannot be unilaterally revoked, as recent UN rapporteurs have confirmed, Pakistan has control over the waters of the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab rivers, while the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers fall under India\u2019s control,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFollowing the illegal suspension of the treaty, India has decided to fast-track several disputed hydroelectric projects in the Indus Basin. These projects include Sawalkot, Ratle, Bursar, Pakal Dul, Kwar, Kiru, and Kirthai-1 and 2. Dulhasti Stage-II is considered part of this strategy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis weaponisation of water is neither sane nor acceptable in a region on the frontlines of climate change and environmental stress. It will inflame tensions in a bilateral relationship already bristling with hostility and distrust,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the Times of India<\/em><\/a>, a panel of the Indian environment ministry has approved a hydropower project on the Chenab River in the Kishtwar district of occupied Kashmir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report said that the 260MW project comes two months after the approval of the 1,856MW Sawalkot hydroelectric project on the same river. It said that both the projects aimed to \u201charness the potential of the Chenab\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A similar report was also carried by The Hindu<\/em><\/a>, which added, \u201cWith the IWT now in abeyance, the centre is pushing ahead with several hydroelectric projects in the Indus basin, such as Sawalkote, Ratle, Bursar, Pakal Dul, Kwar, Kiru, and Kirthai I and II.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The development comes days after United Nations experts expressed concern<\/a> that India\u2019s \u201cunlawful use of force\u201d on Pakistan\u2019s territory in response to the April 22 Paha\u00adlgam attack in occupied Kashmir appe\u00adared to have \u201cviolated the rights to life and security of person\u201d. This observation by UN special rapporteurs was made in a correspondence dated Oct 16, which was made public on Dec 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In April, India had held the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance following the attack<\/u><\/a> on tourists in occupied Kashmir\u2019s Pahalgam that killed 26 \u2014 an incident New Delhi blamed<\/u><\/a> on Islamabad without evidence. Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share under the treaty an \u201cact of war\u201d<\/u><\/a>, noting the treaty had no provision for unilateral suspension. In June, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) \u2014 an organisation that provides a framework for international disputes \u2014 issued<\/u><\/a> a Supplemental Award of Competence, stating that India cannot unilaterally hold the treaty in abeyance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The five UN experts, who compiled the correspondence, also observed that New Delhi\u2019s actions \u201cmay be taken to disrupt the flow of water to Pakistan\u201d under the IWT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, earlier this month, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi had stated that a letter had been written to India seeking clarification about the \u201cabrupt variation\u201d in the flow of the Chenab River, with the situation badly affecting wheat and other crops <\/a>being fed through the Marala-Ravi link and other canals in various parts of Punjab.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Senator Sherry Rehman on Monday said that the \u201cweaponisation of water was neither sane nor acceptable\u201d after Indian media reported that New Delhi had approved a hydel power project on the Chenab River. In a post on the social media platform X, the PPP leader said, \u201cIn flagrant violation of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":11090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,396,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-latest","category-paksitan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11089"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}