Islamists try to exploit Pakistani Water Woes

Islamic militants in Pakistan’s central Punjab province, responsible for various terrorist attacks in India, blaming the region’s water woes on their larger neighbor to garner support. Pakistan’s Roohi desert, a recruiting ground for militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, has seen its irrigation water decrease over the past five years

“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,” The National quoted Ansar Rasheed Sindhu, a farmer from the village of Chak 205 on the Murad Canal 700km south-east of Islamabad as saying.

The dropping water supply has hit hardest subsistence farmers, who depend on the wheat and sugarcane harvests for much of their food and on the sale of cotton for cash. It is rolling back advances made by better quality seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, the paper quotes Mohammed Anwar, a father of three who lives off 1.2 hectares in Chak 205, as saying.

Farmers warn that the lack of water could mean that fertile land will be reclaimed by the desert. Militant groups like Jaish-i-Mohammed and Lashkar-i-Taiba (LiT) assert that Indian dam projects are to blame for the reduced water supply. . “India wants to destroy Pakistan by cutting off our water. Now it wants to build another dam on the Jhelum river to turn Pakistan into a desert and starve us all to death,” says Jamal Din, a former Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, who heads the local chapter of LiT charity Jama’at-ud-Dawah.

Pakistani government officials concede that the filling of the Baglihar dam has reduced water flows into Pakistan. India contends the dam does not violate its accord with Pakistan in 1962 over the use of water from the Indus River and its tributaries, which flow through both countries from the Himalayas. Under the accord, Pakistan had first right of dam construction on the Chenab, but failed to act within a stipulated time because of political indecision and a lack of funding. Pakistan has asked the World Bank to mediate.

Farmers in the region appear, however, not to be buying into either the government’s or the militants’ argument. “The shortages started before India built the dam, shortly after the last local government elections [in 2005]. After big landlords won and gained control, they started stealing water to fill reservoirs on their farms,” Mr Sindhu told The National . “Corruption within the irrigation department is now the issue that needs to be dealt with, but I can see how the poverty that it has caused could be twisted by the militants to meet their own agenda.”

US Funds Pakistani Hydropower

The United States, in a bid to further development and reduce the appeal of Taliban insurgents in Pakistan’s troubled Northwest Frontier, has agreed to contribute $16.5 million to upgrading the 35-year old Tarbela Dam hydroelectric plant. “The energy crisis in Pakistan is an issue that affects everyone,” US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke said at a ceremony marking the signing of the agreement. “Power blackouts cripple commerce and cause suffering in the daily lives of millions of Pakistanis. An efficient system of power generation and distribution is a critical factor in spurring economic development to the benefit of all.” The upgrade to be completed in the next two years is part of a $125 million US funded effort to Pakistan’s energy output and efficiency. The Jamshoro Thermal Power Station in Sindh, the Muzaffargarh power station in Punjab and the Guddu station in the triangle where Sindh, Punjab and Baluchistan meet are also slated for upgrades.