Pakistan remains victim of water aggression

Speakers call for multifaceted solutions including diplomacy and conservation

Diplomacy in United Nations and other multilateral forums and conservation practices at national level are among some of the guiding principles in face of water crisis, said speakers at a conference titled Water Security: Issues and Way Forward on Aggression and Conservation.

Pakistan has been facing water aggression from India ever since the partition in 1947 leading to many episodes of floods, droughts and a looming water security issue, they said at the confenrece organised by Center for Global & Strategic Studies (CGSS).



CGSS Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Zahirul Islam in his opening remarks stated that in recent years, Pakistan has suffered from severe water shortages, flooding and declining water quality. The worsening water crisis must be resolved if the country is ever to achieve stability and progress.

Speaking on the Role of International Convention and Agreements in Peaceful Water Sharing, an international expert, Agnes Pompos, said conventions are significant because these documents create a framework, a template for existing and future basin agreements and promote optimal and sustainable utilisation for present and future generations.



Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul expressing her views on Water Security and its Importance for Pakistan said solving water scarcity demands multi-facet solutions. “Our country is suffering from history’s worst water crisis that requires coordinated efforts at multiple fronts; individual, community, tehsil, district, provincial and national,” she said.

“There is a need to create public awareness through capacity-building,” Gul said.

Advocate Ahmer Bilal Soofi presenting his views on Indian Violation of Indus Water Treaty said that engineered treaty and framework will not work instead “we must address our issues at UN and WTO.” Furthermore, being a lower riparian would be a threat but the conflict between India and Pakistan must be abolished, he said.



Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2018.