Elections are on the horizon in Pakistan when politicians gleefully accept jail sentences meted out by kangaroo (Army) courts disguised as civilian. So politicians throng to jails in alleged crimes, while terrorists have opened their shops in political mandi of Pakistan. Bizarre as it may sound, but this is the ideal time for Rawalpindi(Pakistan Army headquarters) to exploit the confusion, as Pervez Musharraf had neutralized Benazir Bhutto earlier, and General Qamar Javed Bajwa got rid off Nawaz and Maryam Sharif altogether smoothly now . So the stage is set for Army to muddle in politics through their stooges and thus we witness entry of Hafiz Saeed and suicide bombers party on one hand and on the other side an Islamist sex maniac Imran Khan. Here I haven’t mentioned, good for nothing Shahbaz Sharif or political joke Bilawal Bhutto , whose only noticeable work was sexual rendezvous with Hina Rabbani .
This is the golden opportunity for army as the major players are vanquished, and hence it is unlikely to be wasted by successful business enterprise of Rawalpindi. Not that it is the first time, when political parties and politicians are propped up by army, Nawaz n mandli are themselves product of largesse by General Zia. We can safely say that in Pakistan nothing has changed, history is merely repeating itself even players on the chessboard are same with added dimension of terror outfits also jumping into the fray with covert support from establishment.
There isn’t much to be excited about or fearful of these Pakistan new political entrants as the final authority still rests with Army. It wouldn’t be prudent to think these newly emerged parties won’t instigate people on emotive issues of Kashmir, Indus water treaty etc. As for India, the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) is a deadweight better be discarded altogether without worrying much about the hollow intimidating outbursts by Pakistan.
Since 1960, India entered into a treaty that gave away the Indus system’s largest rivers as gifts to Pakistan in the naive hope of peace which still eludes us. All the generosity shown by India is rebuffed and has not altered hostile attitude of Pakistan towards us. Ironically while drawing the full benefits from the treaty, Pakistan has waged overt or covert aggression almost continuously and is now using the IWT itself as a stick to beat India with, including by contriving water disputes and internationalizing them.
IWT itself is a fraud and should be done away with as this treaty is extremely harmful to our interests. While no water treaty in the world is so lopsided as IWT, as India is entitled to just 19% share of the Indus basin water while Pakistan gets a whooping 81% share with the largest three of the six rivers were assigned to Pakistan. While the mismanagement of water resources aren’t deliberated upon in Pakistan, rather onus of water woos are mischievously deflected on India. By creating impediments on hydro power projects and seeking international mediation, Pakistan has displayed its greed and insatiable hunger, which can only be answered by revoking this biased IWT, and thus to catch its bluff.
Respective Central governments on their part showed their apathy towards IWT even as resolution had been passed in J&K assembly to abolish this treaty. World bank, the guarantor under guidance and influence of USA has thwarted attempts by India to utilize even legitimate share of water by us in order to please Pakistan. Despite Modi’s declaration that “blood and water cannot flow together” , the incumbent government also didn’t do much to alter the scenario which has resulted in Pakistan getting more than 10 billion cubic meters (BCM) of water yearly.
Even deriving maximum benefit out of IWT, Pakistan has time and again accused India of wrongdoings, continued proxy war and created impediments. It would be prudent of India to abrogate IWT, as this treaty has failed to meet its noble objective of ushering in peace. Learning from major powers, its not a crime to revoke International treaties if it undermine country’s interest as USA and China recently showed. In effect, Pakistan is offering India a significant opening to remake the terms of the Indus treaty engagement. This is an opportunity that India should not let go. All it needs is firm political will to renegotiate IWT in changed scenario and in a pragmatic manner.
India shouldn’t be hesitant in correcting the mistakes of past without giving much attention to emerging political scene in Pakistan. Pakistani Army( juggler) knows monkeys balancing skills very well and is skilled in taming its domestic pets. Apart from verbal jingoism, which is only going to be more shrill during election season, these pets won’t dare move an inch without approval from Pakistan army which as a true businessmen won’t risk war with India as it would be suicidal for its business interests.
