Pakistan’s Commissioner for Indus Waters, Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah, said on Tuesday that he had written to his Indian counterpart four times since last April over fluctuations in the Chenab River’s flow, with no response from New Delhi so far. He said his most recent letter was sent the night before, raising “significant fluctuations” in the river.
India must be held accountable for the changes in the flow of the Chenab, Shah said at the seminar in Islamabad on the legal and constitutional framework of the Indus Waters Treaty, calling the fluctuations a “strategic hazard,” not just a technical inconvenience. Such occurrences could not be “business as usual” for any responsible downstream commissioner, he said.
Shah said Pakistan had continued providing required data, sending correspondence, and requesting meetings and inspections under the treaty over the past year, despite India holding the IWT in abeyance, but had received no response from the Indian side. He said the last commission meeting was in May 2022, and corresponding monthly data has been outstanding since August 2023.
Speaking at the same seminar, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that 240 million people of Pakistan have a right to the water of the Indus River system, which can neither be unilaterally altered, suspended, revoked or abeyance and is a tool of peace and regional stability.
Shah called for an immediate Indus Commission meeting, full restoration of data-sharing, and resumption of general and special tours of inspection, stating the way forward was “not abeyance, but performance.”
