Indus River Water Dispute

Equitable sharing of the waters of the Indus system had been an issue of discord since partition. The partition gave India

5 million of the 28 million acres of land irrigated by the Indus. Most of the waters of the western parts of the Indus system wento into the Arabian Sea. Some canals in Pakistan depended on the eastern rivers flowing through the East Punjab (India) for supplies. The headworks of some vital canals in Pakistan come within the Indian territory. The successive governments in Pakistan blamed India for any calamity created by natural factors like droughts and floods in Pakistan. So, under the guidance of the World Bank, an interim agreement on canal waters was signed on April 17, 1959. Subsequently, a comprehensive agreement between the two countries, was signed on September 19, 1960 in Karachi. Unfortunately, till today, on several occasions, the Indus Water Treaty has caused discord between two nations.