Amid facing a severe water crisis ahead of the Kharif sowing, Pakistan has written four letters, one after another, requesting India to reinstate the Indus Waters Treaty that was suspended in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Pakistan is staring at a water crisis and appears to be desperate, people familiar with the matter said.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Water Resources, Secretary Syed Ali Murtaza urged India to reconsider its decision to stop the Indus Waters Treaty in May before Operation Sindoor. Later, the ministry wrote three more letters to New Delhi and appealed to reinstate the agreement. According to sources, the Jal Shakti Ministry has sent all four letters from Pakistan to the Ministry of External Affairs. Pakistan had also requested the World Bank, which brokered the deal, to intervene in the matter, sources said. However, the World Bank refused to step into the issue, they added.
According to Pakistan media reports, Pakistan’s key dams — Tarbela on the Indus River and Mangla on the Jhelum River are running low on water, while there has been a “sudden decrease” in Chenab River inflows after a short supply by India in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.
The Kharif season generally begins in June and July with the onset of the monsoon rains. These are the months when many kharif crops are sown. The harvesting of kharif crops typically takes place in September and October, as well as during November and December. Basmati rice produced by Pakistan is considered the best in the world. The Basmati crops are likely to be hit if farmers fail to get enough water for irrigation.
The latest data released by the Pakistan Government shows that the availability of water in the Indus River System (inside Pakistan’s Punjab province) has declined by 10.3 per cent as of 02 June 2025, vis-a-vis 02 June 2024.
This situation may get worse in the coming weeks with the onset of the Southwest monsoon still at least four weeks away.
India had on April 23 announced a string of punitive actions against Pakistan in the aftermath of the April 22 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. These included the suspension of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, the closure of the integrated check post at the Attari border and the reduction of the strength of Pakistani high commissions in India.
The IWT, which was signed in 1960, governs the sharing of the waters of six rivers - Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej - between India and Pakistan. While Pakistan has been violating the IWT by trampling its spirit of goodwill through thousands of terrorist attacks and by obstructing the updating of the infrastructure to ensure its safety, India has shown extraordinary patience and magnanimity. The treaty gives India 20 percent of the water from the Indus River System and the rest 80 per cent to Pakistan.
India had formally asked Islamabad on several occasions in the last two years to discuss modifications to the treaty but to no avail.
Meanwhile, India is planning to construct a 130-km-long canal that will connect the Beas River to the Ganga canal. There is also a proposal to build a canal to connect Indus with the Yamuna, sources said.
A 12-km-long tunnel is planned to be built as part of the 200-km-long project. States like Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, and Delhi are expected to benefit from the project.
According to the Government, work is going on at a fast pace on the project and is expected to be completed within two to three years. A Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the entire project regarding Indus water will be made soon.