i Indus Water Disputes and India-Pakistan Relations Doctoral Dissertation By Muhammad Nasrullah Mirza, M.Phil. Department of Political Science South Asia Institute University of Heidelberg Federal Republic of Germany Supervised by: Prof. (em.) Dr. Frank R. Pfetsch Jean-Monnet Chair ad personam and Professor Subrata K. Mitra, PhD. ii iii PREFACE I developed special interest in this topic in the late 1980s during my MPhil studies; though the issue of river-water sharing between India and Pakistan was on my mind since my childhood. In late 1950s military government of President Muhammad Ayub Khan launched a border-belt scheme to put under cultivation the land which was vacated because of complete diversion of Sutlej River by India under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of 1960 between India and Pakistan. At that time a number of retired army-men were allotted that land and they settled in the area; my father was one of the beneficiaries. In 1962 when they planned to cultivate that land there was no facility of canal water for irrigation. They tried to manage the problem by other means, but during the rainy season flood waters, released by India, destroyed their crops. My father was one of the victims too. In late 1960s, when I was a school boy, our Headmaster arranged a visit to show us the construction of a link canal about five kilometres from my school and briefed us about the huge Indus Development Project undertaken under the IWT: the huge cranes which I saw at that time digging the canal never have seen again in Pakistan. In early 70s with the completion of the Indus Development Project, when there was hope for the supply of irrigation water, India started construction of Salal Dam thus endangering the supply from the river Chenab. Later, when I came across the land owners and farmers I observed that there were apprehensions among them that this grand project would be useless if India keeps on flooding their lands and withholding supplies from the western rivers on its will and the questions were being asked about the benefits of the IWT. iii In 1985 and again in 1988, during rainy seasons, India opened the gates at the river headworks which flooded the Ravi and the Sutlej and caused huge destruction of life and property in Lahore and destroyed greatly the mature crop of cotton—the major export product of Pakistan—and all other valuable crops in Punjab. In 1985 India created the Wullar Barrage issue and started construction of a barrage at river Jhelum Main. All this was sufficient motivating me to dig out the facts causing tension in India-Pakistan relations. I have read a dispassionate and comprehensive account of pre- partition scenario which ultimately led to the Partition of the Subcontinent; consequently, it dissected one of the world’s biggest river systems in total disregard to the dictates of natural geography and intrinsic ecology. Rightly or wrongly, it seems to me that all concerned were in the grip of developments which were beyond the wit of man to control. Man had released the whirlwind and men had to live with the resulting disasters. Wonder is not that mistakes have been done but it was due to the utter neglect of riparian rights and intentional exploitation of vulnerabilities and weaknesses of the other party. Water flows immutable laws of nature. Man makes own laws and practice them until they serve his interests otherwise breaks them. All the laws, assurances, guarantees, understanding and even treaties could be honoured, not as a matter of obligation only, but as the condescending sweet will of the parties. Governments are always liable to change but a river/canal endures for centuries, if not for ever, and preserves the natural ecology to the benefit of all. Every state should take equal interest in its maintenance; which is possible only in the absence of hostilities. Unfortunately, India and Pakistan could not succeed in ending their mutual animosity therefore facing the self-created whirlwind. My first attempt to comprehend the problem was during my MPhil (Masters/Magister) studies when I produced a thesis entitled Wullar Barrage Issue: An Analysis at the Pakistan’s premier institute, Quaid-i- iv Azam University Islamabad, in the subject of International Relations. Main section of the study was published as Wular Barrage by a Pakistani premier think-tank, Pakistan Horizon, Vol. 47, No. 1 (Jan. 1994). The completion of this D o c t o r a l project owes profound thanks and gratitude to numerous peoples and institutions that eagerly cooperated with me during my field work. My special thanks are due for those anonymous referees, appointed by Routledge who strongly recommended the manuscript for publication. Their expert comments and critique enormously enhanced the quality of this manuscript. Muhammad Nasrullah Mirza v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like express my profound thanks and gratitude to my mentors and supervisors, Professor (em.) Dr. Frank R. Pfetsch and Subrata Kumar Mitra, PhD, for their continuous support, guidance and encouragement in the writing of this thesis. Their thought-provoking guidance, incisive criticism, and kind comments encouraged me in questioning the prevailing viewpoints on the Indo- Pakistan conflict. They provided me, throughout my stay at the University of Heidelberg with all sorts of academic, administrative and moral support to achieve this goal. I owe profound thanks and gratitude to Dr. Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema, my professor and Chair of the International Relations Department at the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, and later in his role as Iqbal Fellow, occupying the Pakistan Chair at the University of Heidelberg. As a professor, he has been my role-model. His continuous academic, moral support and guidance in every aspect of my life has been the key to my success. I have no words to express the kind attention and deep love given to me by my German landlord in the US, Prof. Richard Grathoff, PhD and his wife, Ruth Ann. They were the people who brought me to Germany for the finale of my degree. They provided me every possible help during my stay in the US, and because of them I consider Germany my second home. They have always received me with open arms, open hearts and treated me as their beloved son, equivalent to Dr. George and Dr. Philips. In the US, during my one-year stay at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign (UIUC) program in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security (ACDIS), one name I can never forget is that of Dr. Paul F. Diehl, Prof. of Political Science (presently Chair of the Department), who provided continual encouragement, academic guidance and prompt feedback in the initial phase of conceptualising my thesis. I have learnt a lot by joining his course for doctoral students on International War and benefited immensely from his excellent scholarship on changing dimensions of war and international security, especially water and environmental conflicts. Going well out of his way, he helped me officially and in a private capacity in facilitating my access to the relevant people, institutions and research material. He was always vi available for guidance whenever I consulted him during my stay at the ACDIS, and afterwards when I was thousands of miles away from him. The second name to whom I owe profound thanks is that of a renowned scholar and expert on South Asia, Dr. Robert G. Wirsing, Professor at the Asia- Pacific Center for Security Studies, University of Honolulu, Hawaii. His invaluable feedback on my thesis manuscript and his appreciation and acknowledgement of my work in his scholarly writings on Indian River Diplomacy in South Asia and also on the Kashmir conflict, and our long and deeply involved discussions on the linkage of the Indus and Kashmir disputes during his visits to Pakistan have given me immense confidence in undertaking this project. I will never forget his words to me: “My companion traveller along the rivers in South Asia.” My sincere thanks are due to Prof. Clifford E. Singer, Director of the ACDIS, who facilitated my Fulbright affiliation with the ACDIS and provided me with a conducive environment, logistic support, and access to the relevant people, institutions and libraries in the US. I am especially grateful to him for introducing my thesis in the US through the organisation of seminars and by recommending my name for the participation in conferences in Washington DC, Madison, Wisconsin, Michigan, and at the UIUC. My sincere thanks are due to my colleagues at the ACDIS: Dr. Matthew Rosenstein, Col. Dwight Roblyer, Col. Mark D. Bontrager, Dr. Amit Gupta, Prof. A. C. Shukla, and the staff at the ACDIS: Ms. Sheila Roberts and Ms. Becky Osgood, library and system support personnel, for their kindness and care. Special thanks go to Col. Roblyer and his wife, Cathy, who exploited all their contacts in order to facilitate my access to the required resources. I am extremely grateful to my mentor, senior colleague, and above all my very sincere friend and well-wisher, Dr. M. Zafar Iqbal Cheema, Chairman of the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies and the Dean Faculty of Social Sciences at my institute of employment, the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, for his guidance and contribution to my academic as well as administrative learning and training under his inspiring and able leadership. My deepest thanks and gratitude are due to Dr. Sikandar Hayat, Prof. of History at the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, who took great pains in going through the part of the thesis related to the period of Partition of the Subcontinent and vii furnished it with his invaluable comments and critique.