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Water is the great blessing of Allah on the earth and it is said Allah gifted Nile to Egypt and Indus to the state of Pakistan. The main stream of the Indus along with other rivers such as Jhelum and Chenab that flows into Pakistan come from the state of Jammu and Kashmir. However, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej have their veins from India. In fact, Pakistan’s agricultural sector totally depends on the flow of these important water reservoirs, but India has several other rivers and water sources to support its agriculture set up. The sense of reunion was articulated by Indian leaders from the very first day of independence and it was conspired that the canal head work flowing into Pakistan would be given to India. She would build dames over those rivers that flow into Pakistan from India. In short, the planning had been completed even before the partition to create a draught like situation in Pakistan by disconnecting her from the life giving water streams on which depends the agro based economy of the country.
The dispute over the distribution of water erupted into crisis soon after the partition of East and West Punjab. The partition of Punjab cut down the rivers and canals that made Pakistan the lower riparian and India the upper riparian. The Indian government several times made promises that she would not intervene and would not go against the due right of Pakistan as a neighbor and the lower riparian. But in contradiction, they always moved against the promises and many times threatened to cut the flow of the rivers. India also interfered with the water of river on first April 1948 by cutting across Ravi and Sutlej links only after six month of the independence.
Pakistan was facing acute threat of shortage of water and agriculture ruin. Pakistani delegation was sent to India to quell the problem, but the situation aggravated day by day rather than improving because of cutting across of IndusRiver which is considered a livelihood for the state of Pakistan. India rejected the proposal of Pakistani delegation due to her chauvinist behavior, Pakistan also gave proposal to solve the problem through the world bank, but it was also not acceptable for Indian leaders because Pakistan was trying to solve the problem on the table, but opponent was in the mood of fighting, to compel the newly born country for the reunification. A former chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority wrote in an article “No armies with bombs and shell fire could divested a land so thoroughly as Pakistan could be devastated by the simple expedient of India’s permanently shutting up the source of water that keep the field and the people of Pakistan green”
In the September 1950 the Indian government agreed to resolve the issue through adjudication, but demanded that there should be a court in which two members should be from each side and there would be one neutral chairman. These proposals were accepted by Pakistan. The chairman of World Bank” for construction and development” Eugene Black took the responsibility and made a committee of both sides to overcome this problem. Several years elapsed in seeking the solution of this serious issue between the two arch rivals and every day passed like year. Thus on September 19th, 1960 an agreement was sign between two countries in Karachi that is known as Indus Water Treaty.
The President of Pakistan, Ayub khan from Pakistan and P.M Pandit Jawaher Lal Nehro from Indian side decided to meet and signed the agreement. In this agreement the World Bank divided the whole reservoirs into two parts. Beas, Ravi and Sutlej rivers were assigned to India while the rivers Chenab Jhelum and Indus were granted to Pakistan. Whereas, Pakistan needed dams, barrages and canals to make up the loss which was beyond Pakistan’s capacity and material strength to build. So, it was also decided for the storage of water Pakistan would be helped to build dams, barrages and at least seven link canals in which Indian would pay 200 millions of the total cost of the scheme, while the remaining amount would be given by the World bank, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other friendly states of Pakistan.
India was trying from the very first day of independence to cripple the newly born state of Pakistan because the Hindu leaders desired to suppress the Muslims community in India. The Hindus had never missed any opportunity to criticize and defame the Muslim community. So they tried several times to compel Pakistan in the border regions and several times in the valley of Jammu and Kashmir in order to create blockage in the way of Indus that to put question mark on the agriculture bone of Pakistan. Thus, Pakistan was leaned to opt for the option of World Bank in order to seek out a better and suitable solution. So, the treaty was signed under the title of Indus Water Treaty, in which the water flow was equally divided between the two states on the bases of lower and upper riparian.