Pakistan on Thursday cited the United States Senate report ‘Avoiding Water Wars in South and Central Asia' as a vindication of its stance that construction of dams by India on the western rivers in ‘Occupied Kashmir' was in violation of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).
Responding to a question on the report which makes a reference to how the construction of dams by India in Jammu and Kashmir would limit the supply of water to Pakistan at crucial moments, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua noted that Islamabad had conveyed its concerns to India through the Office of the Permanent Indus Commission. Pakistan's contention is that various projects being built by India are not in conformity with the terms of the IWT and wants New Delhi to address these concerns in a “sincere, forthwith and result-oriented manner.”
According to the report — released by the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations , John Kerry — “while studies show that no single dam along the waters controlled by the IWT will affect Pakistan's access to water, the cumulative effect of these projects could give India the ability to store enough water to limit the supply to Pakistan at crucial moments in the growing season.”
