Indus River System
Map: India
Current relevance:
i.
India has rejected the latest pronouncement
of the Court of Arbitration at The Hague concerning the Indus Waters
Treaty (IWT) and the Ratle Hydroelectric Project, maintaining that
it does not recognise the arbitral body's jurisdiction.
ii.
The wider dispute concerns the design of
India's Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects. India's official
MEA annual report records that Ratle is under construction in Jammu &
Kashmir and that India has participated in the separate Neutral Expert
process concerning technical design questions.
Continent:
The Indus River system is located in Asia,
primarily across South Asia, with its upper reaches extending into the Tibetan
Plateau.
Important Places:
i.
Ratle Hydroelectric Project:
Located on the Chenab River in Jammu & Kashmir and central to the
current dispute.
ii.
Kishenganga Hydroelectric Project:
Located on the Kishenganga River, a tributary of the Jhelum system, in
Jammu & Kashmir.
iii.
The Hague, Netherlands: Seat
associated with the arbitration proceedings referred to in the present dispute.
iv.
Karachi: The Indus
Waters Treaty was signed at Karachi on 19 September 1960 by India and
Pakistan, with the World Bank performing the role specified under the Treaty.
Six Rivers under the Indus
Waters Treaty:
The Treaty defines Ravi, Beas and Sutlej
as the Eastern Rivers and Indus, Jhelum and Chenab as the Western Rivers.
Under its original allocation framework, the Eastern Rivers were made available
for India's unrestricted use subject to Treaty provisions, while Pakistan
received unrestricted use of the Western Rivers subject to specified Indian
uses.
Indus River — Course:
i.
The Indus originates in the Tibetan
Plateau region, enters Ladakh, then flows through Pakistan before
ultimately emptying into the Arabian Sea.
ii.
Its major tributary system includes the Jhelum,
Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. The World Bank describes the Indus system as
the Indus plus these five principal tributaries.
Countries Associated with
the Basin:
i.
The most important countries to mark are India,
Pakistan and China.
ii.
The key bilateral relationship is India–Pakistan,
since these are the two parties to the Indus Waters Treaty, 1960
Significance:
i.
Water security: The Indus system
is fundamental to irrigation, agriculture and water supply, particularly
across northwestern India and Pakistan.
ii.
Hydropower: The Western
Rivers possess substantial hydropower potential. The Treaty expressly provides
for certain Indian hydroelectric uses on these rivers subject to its
provisions.
iii.
Transboundary importance:
Partition transformed what had been an internal river-management issue into an international
water-sharing question between India and Pakistan.
iv.
Treaty significance: Signed
in 1960 after about nine years of negotiations, the IWT established a
framework for allocation, cooperation, information exchange and
dispute-resolution mechanisms concerning the Indus system.
v.
Strategic relevance:
Projects such as Ratle and Kishenganga have made hydropower design and
Treaty interpretation important elements of India–Pakistan water relations.
Source: THE HINDU