Najam in TNS on India-Pakistan Water Wars
As security tensions between India and Pakistan continue to mount, India recently suggested that it may consider a move to revoke the long-standing Indus River Water Treaty between the two countries and ‘punish’ Pakistan by stopping the Indus water flowing into Pakistan. Although many consider this to be war hysteria bravado rather than a serious policy proposal, it has raised concern amongst South Asian water and natural resource experts.
Commenting on this development, Adil Najam, Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, said that such a move would be ill-advised and lead to a terrible international precedent. Interviewed by The News on Sunday for an October 9, 2016 article entitled “The Water War,”, Najam said he hoped that the threat was rhetorical rather than real, but commented that if it was real it would be a very significant departure from international norms and expectations.
From the text of the article:
Dr Adil Najam, Dean Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University, criticised the Indian government for doing politics on water. According to him, “The Indus Water Treaty is amongst the ONLY thing in India-Pakistan relations that works. For India to mess with this for petty point scoring is sad.”
Dr Adil Najam further said, “To unilaterally abort the treaty will be an unprecedented step of international callousness by India, and one whose impacts will go well beyond water. It will be a serious blow to India’s international credibility. By using the IWT as a talking point in political posturing, India has already undermined the integrity of the treaty, as well as of its own international stature.”
The full article can be read here.
Adil Najam is the inaugural dean of the Boston University Pardee School of Global Studies and an expert on issues related to international environmental negotiations and on South Asia affairs. You can read more about him here.