The Lahore High Court on Thursday sought a reply from the federal government to a petition challenging the government’s alleged negligence towards alleged violations of the Indus Basin Water Treaty by India.
The Kissan Board Pakistan filed the petition through its counsel Mirza Abdul Khalique.
The petitioner submitted that India had started building two dams on River Sindh in violation of the Indus Basin Water Treaty.
Khalique said that the treaty barred India from building a dam on River Sindh, but the Pakistan government had apparently not taken notice of the violation. He said India had violated the treaty earlier too by building dams on the Jhelum and the Chenab, but the government “remained unmoved”.
He asked the court to direct the government to approach the International Court of Justice against India’s actions.
If the government did not act, he said, irrigated lands in Pakistan would become infertile.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan heard the initial arguments and then issued notices to the federal government, the Ministry of Water and Power and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He directed them to file their replies within three weeks.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2012.
COMMENTS (6)
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@Fahim Dare use the missile to destroy it. You can't.Can you? Pakistan will be a mute spectator when India builds the dam on our rivers.
one missile can destroy the dam site
For those against Kalabagh dam, this should be shameful! India is changing natural course of the rivers. Be warned that besides affecting Pakistan, it's going to affect India as well. Pakistan should build large reservoirs to store water in the monsoon to tackle the situation.
Any arvitrary person making petitions to the high court directing the center to do this and taht cannot be prevented. Wha is very surprising is that the court actually accepts these petitions and finds them maintainable. When the Pakistan government has already taken India to the arbitration court over its disputes , where is the scope for non-technical individuals to raise these kinds of frivolous petitions taking up the time - not only of court ut aso distracting the government from its executive functions.
I do not say this because I am an Indian. I fully respect Pakistan's right to go for arbitration which is an agreed dispute resolutio method n the Inmndus Treaty. But this? Tomorrow someone will come to the court and ask the court to direct the government to explain why it has not initiated Ghazwa -e-Hind as directed in the Hadith. Really absurd to say the last.
Oh My God. Why should Pakistan even bother electing a government when the exective is to be run just through private petitions to High Court/Supreme court who then puts the executive in dock. Between private petitions questioing executive action, which are prioritized over cases that may be pending in the court for decadesand suo motos really there is o need for the executive.