Pakistan Conflict Monitor

Extremists Strive to Exploit India-Pakistan Water Dispute

Rhetoric Grows Heated in Water Dispute Between India, Pakistan, The Washington Post, 28 May 2010

EXCERPT: "The latest standoff between India and Pakistan features familiar elements: perceived Indian injustices, calls to arms by Pakistani extremists. But this dispute centers on something different: water. Militant organizations traditionally focused on liberating Indian-held Kashmir have adopted water as a rallying cry, accusing India of strangling upstream rivers to desiccate downstream farms in Pakistan's dry agricultural heartland. This spring, a religious leader suspected of links to the 2008 Mumbai attacks led a protest here of thousands of farmers driving tractors and carrying signs warning: 'Water Flows or Blood.' The cleric, Hafiz Sayeed, recently told worshipers that India was guilty of 'water terrorism.' India and Pakistan have pledged to improve relations. But Sayeed's water rhetoric, echoed in shrill headlines on both sides of the border, encapsulates two issues that threaten those fragile peace efforts - an Indian dam project on the shared Indus River and Pakistan's reluctance to crack down on Sayeed."

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Related articles:
Indo-Pak talks end with resolution of three project, Express India, 2 June 2010
US asks Pakistan to act against LeT, other anti-India groups, Hindustan Times, 2 June 2010
"Pakistan, India can solve water issue with goodwill" [interview], The Hindu, 1 June 2010

Related media:
Indo-Pak water dispute [video], The Express Tribune via YouTube, 2 June 2010

Related posts:
Pakistan, India unable to reach consensus over water, 31 March 2010
US shifts focus to Pakistan's economic, energy and water challenges, 4 March 2010
Distrust over shared rivers complicates India-Pakistan talks, 24 February 2010
Militants try to cash in on farmer's water woes, 28 January 2010
Water challenges a "crucial" issue in Central-South Asia, 19 January 2010

Pakistan, India Unable to Reach Concensus over Water

Deadlock over Indo-Pak Water Issue Continues, Sify News, 30 March 2010

EXCERPT: "The deadlock between India and Pakistan over the sharing of Indus river waters continues, as no breakthrough was made during the meeting of Indus Water commissioners from both countries. Talking to reporters after a day long meeting in Lahore, Pakistan's Indus Water Commissioner Jamaat Ali Shah said the visiting Indian delegation was told about Islamabad's concerns over new dams being built by New Delhi on rivers. Shah said his Indian counterparts assured that New Delhi would try to address these reservations. 'Continuous dialogues will help solve the water issues with India,' he said, adding that according to the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, India must inform Islamabad at least six months before finalising the construction of any dam project. Pakistan had raised objections to India's Chutak and Nimoo Bazgo water projects, saying the projects are affecting water flow in the River Indus. However, Aranga Nathan, the Indian Indus Water Commissioner, countered Pakistan's claims saying Islamabad was given 'advance information' regarding the construction of the Nimoo Bazgo Dam."

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Related articles:
India says it is not stealing water, DAWN, 30 March 2010
Water security in S. Asia: Call for joint watershed management, DAWN, 9 February 2010
The truth about water wars, SEED Magazine, 14 May 2009
Glacier melt imperils Asia security as water dwindles, Bloomberg, 17 April 2009
Pakistan and India's Siachen glacier: No man's land for conservation and peace, World Security Network, 21 September 2006

Related reports:
Water security on the sub-continent: The implications of the Indus treaty, The Henry Jackson Society, 29 January 2010
Conflict resolution and peace building debriefing of an Indo-Pak Track II dialogue held in Bangkok on 8-9 October 2009, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, 20 October 2009
Water: The new source of international conflict?, The Henry L. Stimson Center, 4 September 2007

Related posts:
US shifts focus to Pakistan's economic, energy and water challenges, 4 March 2010
Distrust over shared rivers complicates India-Pakistan talks, 24 February 2010
Militants try to cash in on farmer's water woes, 28 January 2010
Water challenges a "crucial" issue in Central-South Asia, 19 January 2010

"Mafia" Controls Karachi Water Supply

Karachi "Water Mafia" Leaves Pakistanis Parched and Broke, Los Angeles Times, 16 March 2010

"Corrupt politicians allow businessmen to siphon off as much as 41% of the city's water supply and turn around and sell it at exorbitant rates to residents, generating an estimated $43 million a year. The illegal operations, routinely referred to as mafias, are everywhere. [...] The water tanker mafia's prey can be found in slums like Karachi's Gulshan-Sikanderabad neighborhood, where every morning people buy water from the tankers, lug the plastic jugs back to their homes on wooden carts, then come back three or four more times in the afternoon and evening to buy more. A family that makes $100 a month can spend as much as a quarter of that on water, which, elsewhere in Pakistan, costs pennies and flows out of household taps. Water scarcity isn't the cause. Karachi has a steady water supply, and it has the network of pipes to pump ample water into every neighborhood, rich and poor. But Karachi is also a city of opportunists forever on the prowl for under-the-table wealth. As municipal officials look the other way, businessmen illegally tap water mains, and use the makeshift hydrants to supply fleets of tankers that then sell water to businesses, factories and neighborhoods at inflated prices. As many as 272 million gallons a day are siphoned off by the trucks."

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Related articles:
Water more profit than life, 15 March 2010
Water sellers set up illegal reservoirs, DAWN, 26 December 2009
Water supply to city cut by half, DAWN, 19 June 2009
Over 390m gallons of water go to waste daily, The Nation, 18 October 2008

Related media:
Water problems in Karachi [video], Karachi Water Partnership and Eckova via YouTube, 24 May 2007

Related posts:
US shifts focus to pakistan's economic, energy and water challenges, 4 March 2010
Militants try to cash in on farmer's water woes, 28 January 2010
Water challenges a "crucial" issue in Central-South Asia, 19 January 2010

Arbitrary Arrests of Fishermen in India-Pakistan Dispute

Pakistani and Indian Fishermen Are Pawns in Governments' Disputes, Los Angeles Times, 9 March 2010

EXCERPT: "Hundreds of Pakistani and Indian fishermen have been arrested and imprisoned in recent years, high-seas apprehensions that human rights activists say have nothing to do with border enforcement and everything to do with the 6-decade-old hatred between Pakistan and India. When fishermen from either country are hauled in for questioning, they're interrogated by intelligence agents convinced that the men are spies. The fishermen are often held for years without a trial. Officials with the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, a human rights nongovernmental organization, or NGO, that focuses on the plight of Indus River delta fishermen, say Indian prisons now hold 175 Pakistani fishermen. The organization's counterpart in India, the National Fishworkers Forum, says 550 Indian fishermen are jailed in Pakistani lockups. Fishermen and activists with the Indian and Pakistani NGOs say India's border enforcement in the Arabian Sea and nearby channels has stepped up sharply since the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, which killed 166 people. Indian coast guard patrols focus keenly on the Indus River delta, fishermen and activists say, because the Mumbai attackers began their journey to India from the delta's waterways in a small boat, armed with AK-47s, grenades and thousands of rounds of ammunition. The arrests add another layer of misery for families just scraping by in thatched-hut villages, where schools, electricity and paved roads don't exist."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
End to arrest of Pakistani, Indian fishermen demanded, The News International, 14 February 2010
Pakistan's fatal shore, The Atlantic, May 2009
Fishing in troubled waters [op-ed], Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, 5 December 2008

Related posts:
Distrust over shared rivers complicates India-Pakistan talks, 24 February 2010
Water challenges a "crucial" issue in Central-South Asia, 19 January 2010
India-Pakistan relations post-Mumbai terrorist attacks, 19 January 2010

US Shifts Focus to Pakistan's Economic, Energy and Water Challenges

Economy, Energy Replace Extremism as Top US Concerns, DAWN, 4 March 2010

EXCERPT: "US special envoy Richard Holbrooke has told a briefing in Washington that he sees positive developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan, to the point that his chief concern in Pakistan is not extremism. Last week, Mr Holbrooke wrapped up his second trip to South Asia this year, and his first visit to Central Asia since President Barack Obama appointed him to his post. On Tuesday, he briefed the media at the State Department about his visit, saying: 'I think that in Pakistan and in Afghanistan, but particularly in Pakistan, there has been a movement, a shift in sentiment here. In Pakistan right now, my greatest concern is to help the Pakistanis with their economic and energy problems.' Assessing Pakistan’s recent efforts to combat terrorism, he said: 'I think they’re on the right track in this other area.' Washington felt the need to now focus on Pakistan’s economic and energy issues, said Mr Holbrooke, adding that the Obama administration had set up a water resources task force at the State Department to help Pakistan deal with a looming water crisis. The US envoy, who also visited Dushanbe during this trip, said that Tajikistan’s vast water resources could ease water shortages in Pakistan and Afghanistan."

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Related articles:
"We will have to look beyond the Indus Water Treaty", DAWN, 3 March 2010
US mediating between Pakistan, India to resolve water crisis, Daily Times, 20 February 2010
Energy crisis and Pakistan's dilemma [op-ed], DAWN, 7 February 2010

Related reports:
Briefing by Special Representative Holbrooke on his recent trip to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia, Georgia and Germany, US Department of State, 2 March 2010
Promoting security through diplomacy and development: The fiscal year 2011 international affairs budget, US Department of State, 25 February 2010
Running on empty: Pakistan's water crisis, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 15 September 2009

Related posts:
Distrust over shared rivers complicates India-Pakistan talks, 24 February 2010
Militants try to cash in on farmer's water woes, 28 January 2010
Water challenges a "crucial" issue in Central-South Asia, 19 January 2010
Energy shortfall greater concern than Taliban, 18 December 2009

Distrust Over Shared Rivers Complicates India-Pakistan Talks

Distrust Complicates India-Pakistan River Row, AlertNet, 24 February 2010

EXCERPT: "Distrust between India and Pakistan and a 'hawkish' Indian mindset were complicating efforts to resolve disputes over the water of shared rivers, Pakistan's top river water official said. Some analysts fear that disputes over water between the old rivals could in future spark conflict as the neighbours compete for dwindling supplies of water from melting Himalayan glaciers. The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since 1947, will meet in New Delhi on Thursday marking the resumption of official contacts which India broke off after militants attacked the Indian city of Mumbai in late 2008. Pakistan wants to put the dispute over river waters at the top of the agenda along with the core dispute over the divided Kashmir region. But Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Monday that Indian concerns about militant groups based in Pakistan would form the main focus of the talks with her Pakistani counterpart. 'There's mistrust and a lack of confidence,' Syed Jamaat Ali Shah, the Indus Water commissioner of Pakistan, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
War of words ahead of key India-Pakistan meeting, BBC, 24 February 2010
Border firing reported in Kashmir on eve of talks, The Washington Post, 24 February 2010
Pakistan envoy meets Kashmir leaders ahead of talks, AlertNet, 24 February 2010
Factbox: Main problems between India and Pakistan, AlertNet, 24 February 2010

Related posts:
India's focus on security detrimental to talks: Pakistan, 18 February 2010
Latest bombing unlikely to derail India-Pakistan talks, 15 February 2010
A year after Mumbai, India offers to talk with Pakistan, 4 February 2010
Militants try to cash in on farmer's water woes, 28 January 2010
Water challenges a "crucial" issue in Central-South Asia, 19 January 2010

Militants Try to Cash in on Farmer's Water Woes

Militants Try to Cash in on Pakistani Farmer's Water Woes, The National, 27 January 2010

"The decrease in irrigation water to the Roohi desert region – a place that since 1988 has been a recruiting ground for militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir – was first noticed by residents five years ago. 'There was ample water until 2005 – more than enough to grow our crops. Then, suddenly, the number of days that water was available to each village started to drop off and has now reached the point where it has become a serious concern,' said Ansar Rasheed Sindhu, a farmer from the village of Chak 205...which is 700km south-east of the capital, Islamabad. The effect of the water shortfall has been particularly severe on subsistence farmers, whose families depend on the harvests of wheat and sugarcane for much of their food and on the sale of cotton for cash income... The growing alarm among farmers has not escaped the attention of militant groups still active in the area. They include the Jaish-i-Mohammed and Lashkar-i-Taiba (LiT), both of which are responsible for attacks in India over the past decade. In the nearby village of Chak 206, Jamal Din 'Afghani', the local head of the Jama’at-ud-Dawah, the charitable front of the LiT, blamed the water shortages on India’s construction of the Baglihar dam upstream on the Chenab River."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Drought fears for wheat farmers, IRIN News, 28 January 2010
A charitable front for personal interest in Pakistan, The National, 25 January 2010
Potential for water conflict between India and Pakistan, ABC News [transcript], 15 August 2009
Water, Kashmir rankle in India, Pakistan talks, Reuters, 26 November 2008
Musharraf wades into water conflict, BBC News, 13 September 2003

Related reports:
Kashmir and water: Conflict and cooperation, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security // University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign via the Human Security Report, 30 September 2009

Related posts:
Water challenges a "crucial" issue in central-south Asia, 19 January 2010

Water Challenges a "Crucial" Issue in Central-South Asia

Water Challenges in Central-South Asia, Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre, December 2009

EXCERPT: "Water issues play a crucial role in Central-South Asia, both in the quantity of water available and its quality. Access to clean drinking water is a major, though largely unmet, objective. While much of the region is experiencing water shortages, poor water management lies at the heart of many problems. Climate change — in the form of glacier melt, drought, rising temperatures, and changes to the monsoon cycle — will increasingly exacerbate water scarcity. Although the region’s water challenges do not necessarily or inevitably lead to armed conflict, they increasingly threaten to undermine human security. . . Agriculture offers a livelihood for over 40% of Pakistan’s labour force and accounts for a quarter of GDP. Agriculture is also the dominant water user with 69% of the total, while industries use 23% and households the remaining 8%. . . Extensive irrigation in Pakistan and India places Indus water resources under heavy stress, with about 90% of the basin’s available water flow utilized. . . Population growth and increasing urbanization and industrialization continue to drive up water demand for drinking, irrigation, and hydropower purposes. There are many internal water conflicts between vidual communities or provinces. But transborder issues have also posed vexing problems."

Read the full report.

Related articles:
India spars with Pakistan, China over water, Asia Sentinel, 19 January 2010
Water shortage to cause 40 percent decline in wheat output, The Nation [Pakistan], 19 January 2010
Islamabad to harvest run-off water, DAWN, 19 January 2010
Reduced Himalayan snowfall could spark water war, AlertNet, 18 January 2010
Future scarcity seen sparking local conflicts, not full-scale wars, The New York Times, 23 December 2009
Kashmir's biggest glacier shrinking faster than others, The Gazette, Montreal, 13 October 2009

Energy Shortfall Greater Concern than Taliban

Can Pakistan Deliver on Its Energy Promise?, World Politics Review, 18 December 2009

EXCERPT: "'[Pakistan has] got significant remaining exploration potential,' says geoscientist Jim Harris. But that potential, he explains, is hidden in the complex geology of the Himalayan mountain range. To overcome those challenges, speculators and government authorities are eager to expand foreign investment, which has dwindled due to the country's present instability. But their task is complicated by the fact that the most promising sites lie in the volatile regions of Balochistan and the North West Frontier Province, where the Pakistani army has been battling Baloch separatists and the Taliban, respectively. . . But multinationals are not the only ones interested in Pakistan's energy sector. With its ever-growing population, Pakistan has struggled to match energy supplies with demand. Those difficulties turned violent in July and August, at the height of the summer heat, when angry mobs in Karachi and the Punjab protested against the long power cuts that bring modern life to a standstill on a daily basis there. The power cuts occur with greater frequency during the hot summer months, but this winter they are expected to occur regularly again. Every time the power is cut, modern life and business grind to a halt. Along with poor employment prospects, education and health services, this - and not the Taliban - is the greatest concern for the average Pakistani."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
US to support Pakistan to overcome energy shortfalls, The News, 24 October 2009
Power riots, DAWN, 22 July 2009
Pakistan riots worsen as Karachi outage continues, Bloomberg, 21 July 2009

Related reports:
Half of the nation (53%) is deprived of electricity  for more than eight hours a day [pdf], Gialani Poll / Gallup Pakistan, 21 July 2009

Related reports:
Energy crisis in Pakistan [pdf], Islamabad Policy Research Institute, June 2008
Baloch nationalism and the geopolitics of energy resources: The changing context of separatism in Pakistan, Strategic Studies Institute // United States Army War College, 21 April 2008