Final Draft of Policy Paper
Final Draft of Policy Paper
FINAL DRAFT
By
Signature: _____________
Dated: 28th July 2023
Faculty Advisor
Mr. Fouz Khalid Khan,
Directing Staff, T&C (MCMC)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Conclusion
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..............................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND:........................................................................................................1
Literature Review:..........................................................................................................................................3
Approaches and Findings of the paper:..........................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION:................................................................................................................................................6
Policy Options and Recommendations: Feasibility and Implementation Strategy:.......................................6
1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Over the years, water distribution amongst provinces of Pakistan has become a major issue that re-
sulted in a bone of discontent between provinces and needs immediate attention. Such a growing is -
sue in the water sector in Pakistan is not only hindering the national integration process but also
weakening the federation of Pakistan. Since independence, multiple water distribution dispute re-
solving forums were created but almost all were in vain except the recent one i.e. Water apportion-
ment accord. Unfortunately, over the past few decades, matters have become worse because a great
deal of discontent and distrust has been created among the provinces regarding the issue of water
distribution. The absence of a strong cohesive national water policy, administrative corruption,
strong landholdings by the political elites, and capitalist farmers, decreasing water resources, and
adverse impacts of climate change resulted in the further deepening of the crisis. To avoid socio-po -
litical and economic debacle and downfall, Pakistan must upgrade the decades-old water accord
along with improved water-distribution mechanisms, by strengthening the role of constitutional in-
stitutions, enhancing the use of technology in this distribution method, and engaging technically
sound human resources. By doing so, an environment of mistrust among provinces could easily be
curtailed and help in the development of more sustainable and fair irrigated agriculture.
The conflict over water sharing has become now a global phenomenon. Multiple international laws,
water management systems, and treaties are available to settle such water-sharing disputes among
the states like the Indus Water Treaty, the Upper Riparian or the Lower Riparian, and Absolute ter-
ritorial integrity. The twofold water situation in Pakistan is critical i.e. First, there is a dispute be-
tween the provinces over the allocation of water from the Indus River; second, there is a tendency
for climate change to exacerbate water scarcity, especially during the winter, summer, and fall sea-
sons. The water-sharing issue has become graver gradually as the underground water sources are
depleting and provinces are unable to create agreeable solutions due to their political interests.
(Khan & Awan, 2020)
Pre-Independence: In the sub-continent, the Indus water has been put to irrigation use for the last
several centuries, There were inundation canals, and withdrawals in these canals were dependent on
the level of water in the river. The first headwork was constructed in Punjab on the Ravi River in
the nineteenth century. After which many other headworks were also constructed across the tribu-
taries rivers from different periods of 1882-1901. Afterwards, the first Barrage on the Indus was the
1
Sukkur Barrage which was constructed in 1932. However, After the construction of the Sutlej Val-
ley Canals Project in 1933, certain difficulties arose for the sharing of water amongst the states of
Bekanir, Bahawalpur, Khairpur, and Punjab. Even before Independence, numerous agreements be-
tween the provinces were negotiated while under British rule. To address the problem, numerous
commissions and committees were established like Tripartite Agreement in 1921, the Indus Dis-
charge Committee of 1919, the SVP Investigation Committee of 1932, and the Anderson Commit-
tee of 1937 established to settle the issue of building of Sutlej Valley Canals Project, with mandate
to remove difficulties arose for sharing of water amongst the states of Punjab, Bekanir, Bahawalpur,
and Khairpur, and finally the Rao Commission of 1945 appointed on the written complaint of
Sindh against the Proposed Bhakra dam project of the Punjab Province (Wolf and Newton 2008).
Post Independence:
After the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 with India, many internal Committees and Commissions
were constituted by the Federal Government to amicably resolve the issue of water distribution
among provinces, but consensus could not be achieved by all the stakeholders. Some of the impor-
tant ones were the Akhter Hussain Committee of 1968, the Fazal-e-Akbar Commission of 1970, the
Anwar-ul-Haque Commission of 1976, and the Haleem Water Commission. Different panels failed
to reach some unanimous agreement and resolution until all the provinces agreed to the Water Ap-
portionment Accord in 1991 (The World Bank Group, 2019).In Pakistan, the Inter-provincial water
sharing formula i.e. Indus Basin Water Treaty of 1992 is one of the classic examples of water distri-
bution policy. According to the Accord, the following apportionment was agreed upon: Source:
The Water Accord of 1992 (Figures in Million Acre Feet)
37 37 12 14 100
Balance river supplies (including flood supplies and future storage) shall be distributed as above
2
To implement this treaty, the Federal Government has constituted and empowered IRSA to ensure
equity and fair distribution of water among provinces. However, this dispute-resolving mechanism
has failed to resolve the dispute of water distribution amongst the provinces of Pakistan and unfor-
tunately, this crisis is deepening due to various factors. Even constitutional arrangements like CCI
have failed to bring consensus among all the stakeholders. More precisely, it has now become the
issue of federation which resulted in deranged national integration and dented provincial harmony.
Therefore, this policy brief aims to understand the effectiveness of current policies and address the
issue of water distribution among provinces of Pakistan. Finally, it will precisely focus on how this
‘public good’ can strengthen our national integration by creating consensus amongst all the federat-
ing units. Pakistan already has a water crisis, and by 2020 it will be classified as having a severe
water scarcity, according to Mallin Falkenmark's Water Stress Index. The tensions over water be-
tween the provinces will get worse as a result of this circumstance.
Literature Review:
This policy paper deals primarily with two sides. Firstly, the efficiency and effectiveness of
the existing water agreement of 1992, and secondly, how this issue has resulted in damaging the na-
tional interest of Pakistan and what will be the best policy options available to Pakistan. All that is
needed now is a practical yet workable solution to this dispute in Pakistan. The paper in hand be -
comes even more significant as it investigates the possible solutions and remedies for inter-provin-
cial water-sharing issues with the help of document review, analyses, and expert interviews. This
paper will also compare the current policies with developed countries' frameworks and chalk out the
possible alternate possibilities for equitable water distribution among the federating units.
In this paper, a thorough investigation and analyses of secondary literature concerning the ongoing
issue of water distribution among provinces of Pakistan and the analysis of the IRSA policies and
decisions have been undertaken. Also, some of the primary sources have been contacted and inter-
viewed with a reason to understand the intensity of the issue. From the available literature, it has
been observed that the IRSA has completely failed to ensure fair and equitable distribution of water
amongst provinces. The Authority has either been influenced by the respective Federal Govern-
ments or mere political interests have taken over its mandate. Besides, the Accord itself is three
decades old due to which its implementation arm couldn’t synchronize with the current changing
geo-political situation of provinces. This issue is highly volatile but the intensity is too high be-
tween Sindh and Punjab.
It has also been deduced that the behavior of the Water controlling authorities and from the con-
cerns of provincial governments, the existing practices should be modified and reconsidered. Also,
the lack of a long-term National Water Policy for economic growth and development resulted in in-
creased interprovincial disharmony and a potential threat to national integration.
CONCLUSION:
The policy paper in hand has finalized different points of action related to water sharing among the
provinces in Pakistan. From the behavior of authorities to the concerns of Federating Units, diverse
issues have been analyzed and discussed with the help of expert opinions, formal documents, and
published research papers. It has been deduced during the study that certain present practices should
be modified, and existing missions and frames must be reconsidered in a new conceptual agree-
ment. The study concludes that like CCI, another constitutional body (or ‘compromised Agreement’
like NFC) may be created not only to ensure long-term water policies to enhance the economy and
Agriculture and to avoid inter-provincial rift but also to reduce the risks related to the National inte-
gration. There is a dire need to revamp the existing water-sharing formula between provinces and to
amend the water management policies at all levels of government.
5
Policy Options and Recommendations: Feasibility and Implementation Strategy:
The policy options that are required to be taken are multifarious. It is believed that the policy op-
tions must not be restricted between the Provinces and Federal government also but it shall be ad-
dressed at district levels. The following could be the policy options for equitable water distribution
among provinces of Pakistan.
1. Shift to the Singapore Model:
Singapore has developed sustainable and successful water security, distribution, and management
models. Being dependent on Malaysia, Singapore revamped her all mechanisms to reduce depen-
dency on Malaysia. The country shifted its dependence on rainfall water, introduced water effi-
ciency models, enacted new legislation, revamped water reuse projects, managed per capita demand
for water, and lastly through massive public awareness programs. Pakistan can do the same to end
the rift between the provinces over water distribution from Indus Basin sources. For effective im-
plementation, there should be a unanimously agreed long-term sustainable National Water policy,
especially incorporating new methods for conservation and reuse of water.
2. Chairman IRSA to be appointed from AJK or GB:
In the current set-up and as per the IRSA Act, the chairman is to be appointed for one year from
these four provinces in alphabetical order. The chairman being from the same province could be
partial or tilted towards the member province. To keep the neutrality of the forum, the chairman of
IRSA with a fixed term of three years may be appointed from the areas of Gilgit-Baltistan or Azad
Jammu and Kashmir. It also requires an immediate amendment to the existing laws and rules, espe-
cially in the IRSA Act of 1992.
3. Annulment of Three Tier-Method & jurisdictional correction:
As the existing three-tier method of distribution of water has been enforced in place by IRSA since
2003, it should immediately annulled as a confidence-building measure amongst provinces. This
historic usage method is not only creating a rift between provinces but also undermining the writ of
IRSA. All three provinces except Punjab have objected to it. The same issue has also been raised by
Sindh and Punjab in different meetings of the Council of Common Interest. It will also strengthen
the sanctity of the Water Accord of 1992. Also, the jurisdiction of the Indus River System Agency
shall be declared as an Agency to implement the “Water Apportionment Accord”. Any deviation in
Accord by a so-called majority decision shall be termed as beyond the competency of IRSA, and
prohibited in the future. Also, IRSA needs to be empowered, reconstructed, and more representative
of these two units in overall decision-making frameworks. It should be given directly under the su-
pervision of the Committee of Common Interest.
4. Decentralisation of Water apportionment policy:
6
As discussed above, there is an immediate and dire need to amend the current water-sharing for-
mula and overhaul the water management approaches in the province on the district level by decen-
tralizing the powers of IRSA. It may be done through legislation and building consensus amongst
all the stakeholders to improve the Basic infrastructure of canals so that water wastage could be
avoided by easily controlling the same at the micro level.
5. Introduction of technological tools:
An efficient and effective telemetry system in canal heads and barrages is required to be introduced
(previously it was introduced by WAPDA in 2004 but failed to yield results because readings at-
tained through this system indicated huge discrepancies in readings when resembled with readings
acquired through manual procedure. Effective adoption of new technologies in irrigation seasons is
need of the time to prevent water wastage practices.
References:
Chen, D.C.; Maksimovic, C.; Voulvoulis, N. Institutional capacity and policy options for integrated
urban water management: A Singapore case study. Water Policy 2011, 13, 53–68
Khan, A. & Awan, N. (2020). Inter-provincial water conflicts in Pakistan: a critical analysis.
Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, 43(2), 42-53.
Wolf, A.T. &Newton, J.T.(2008).Case study of transboundary dispute resolution: The Indus
water treaty. Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University: Corvallis, OR, USA.