[Reader-list] Blood in the Water
Shuddhabrata Sengupta
shuddha at sarai.net
Wed Jun 18 16:57:26 IST 2008
Dear All,
A friend forward this article, published recently in the Asian
Sentinel, to me recently. I think that it introduces an element,
control of water and natural resources, that are actually key to an
understanding of how conflicts such as Kashmir get played out. In the
longer term, these issues may be far more significant than the issues
of ethnic and religious identity. it is a pity, that whenever the
question of say Kashmir, comes up, or whenever the issue of
Bangladeshi migrants to India rears its head, all that everyone wants
to talk about is the 'identity' issue, what gets left behind is
thought about things like water. Ask a Bangladeshi immigrant to Delhi
about what drove him to cross so many miles of hazardous territory,
and the chances are, that if you are prepared to pay attention, he or
she will have something to say about floods, and the lethality of
rivers, and the rising sea.
I know many people who are ambivalent about their identities, but I
have yet to come across a person who does not feel thirsty. Given
that water is so important to our survival and life, it is a sad
travesty that we pay it so little attention when it comes to
politics. We wouldn't be around to protect our identities and our
nationalities if we could not drink water, or did not have the
guarantee that our homes would not be flooded, year after year.
regards
Shuddha
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http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=1269&Itemid=31
Blood in Kashmir's Water
Sankar Ray
18 June 2008
A decades-old competition for water complicates the already-bitter
relationship between India and her neighbors
Water is destined to be a determining factor in the regional
conflicts of South Asia in the years to come, particularly between
India and Pakistan. Unquestionably one of the most crucial of
environmental resources, this essential ingredient for human life is
growing so scarce in some areas globally that if current trends
continue, two-thirds of humanity will suffer "moderate to severe
water stress" within 30 years, according to a comprehensive
assessment of freshwater resources by the United Nations.
Nowhere is this truer, however, than in the parched regions of India,
Pakistan and Bangladesh, where overpopulation, poverty and scarce
resources make the competition more acute. In a remarkably even-
handed paper published in a recent issue of the Journal of
International Affairs, Saleem H. Ali, associate professor of
Environmental Policy and Planning, at the Rubenstein School of
Environment and Natural Resources of the University of Vermont in the
US, identifies the lack of environmental cooperation in bilateral and
multilateral relations as the root cause of a potential conflict
"between two nuclear neighbours, India and Pakistan, predicated in a
history of religious rivalries and post-colonial demarcation."
The Pakistani scholar urges India and Pakistan to put aside their
mutual distrust to reconfigure the riparian issues for lasting piece
in the region, their inveterate, decades-old antagonism
notwithstanding, and concentrate on a matter of equal importance to
their survival of each country. Ali praises the World Bank's
"instrumental role in its negotiation during the height of the Cold
War to bring the two countries to the negotiating table with the
Indus Water Treaty after bilateral negotiations failed. The outcome
of this historic treaty was the unrestricted use by India of the
three eastern rivers, the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas and complete control
of the three western rivers, the Jhelum, Chenab and Indus by Pakistan.
The rivers all have their origin in the bitterly disputed region of
Kashmir. And thus, theoretically whoever controls Kashmir controls
the rivers, a fact conveniently forgotten for years as Pakistan and
India tested each other's mettle in a series of wars. The Pakistani
Prime Minister, Hussain Suhrwardy, in 1958 pointed to the
geographical importance of Kashmir when he emphasized the importance
of the six rivers of the Indus Basin.
"Most of them rise in Kashmir. One of the reasons why, therefore,
that Kashmir is so important for us is this water, these waters which
irrigate our lands," Suhrwardy said at the time. He proved himself a
prophet. The only other international statesman who thought along the
same lines was the British Premier, Anthony Eden, who believed that
the resolution of the water dispute would reduce the tension over
Kashmir, hence the Indus Water Treaty.
India denied the link between Kashmir and the water issue, however, a
denial that has contributed to the growing resentment between the two
countries, and an amazing one given reality. The head of the Indus
flows through the valley corridor that connects Indian and Pakistani-
held Kashmir.
Further south India has been engaged in a running dispute with
Bangladesh over the Farakka Barrage over the River Ganges since 1973.
This project involved a dam built on the Ganges in West Bengal, about
10 kilometers from the Bangladesh border. Bangladeshi objections that
the project would seriously affect the country's water supply have
proved correct. Falling water levels below the dam have raised
salinity levels, affecting fisheries and hindering navigation.
Falling soil moisture levels have also also led to desertification.
Ali firmly believes that "environmental factors can play a pivotal
role since they help link various issues such as economic development
and security." He points out that, "states that are ecologically
vulnerable to extreme climatic events, such as Bangladesh, are
recognizing that poor environmental planning in coastal areas can
have devastating economic impacts".
"I have long been criticizing the brazenly reactionary promotion of
water disputes among Indian states by the political parties in
power," said Surajit Guha, the former deputy-director general of the
Geological Survey of India and one of India's top hydrologists "It
may not be confined within the Indian territory. The Farakka impasse
is a clear evidence of this. Have you seen European countries through
which the mighty River Danube flows engaging themselves in dispute
over sharing of water during the last one hundred years? I do not
know why water is increasingly politicized when most of the peoples
of SAARC region are deprived of access to safe and potable water."
While the west is busy concentrating its efforts on securing a ready
supply of oil, in South Asia the governments are slowly but surely
waking up to the fact that in the not too distant future water is
going to be equally, if not more important to the survival of their
people.
Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net
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