Key points
- Work on the report will likely take around a year to complete
- This marks the first move by India to stop the flow of water to Pakistan
- Pakistan sees suspension of Indus Waters Treaty as an attempt to usurp its water share
ISLAMABAD: India has decided to revive the controversial Tulbul Navigation Project in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K).
According to the Press Trust of India, work has begun to prepare the detailed project report, which will take around a year to complete and be presented by the officials.
This marks the first move by India to stop the flow of water to Pakistan following the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty in April.
Pakistan is seeing the move to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty as India’s fresh attempt to usurp its water resources.
Aggressive stance
It also highlights the aggressive stance of India against Pakistan.
The Tulbul Navigation Project was designed to set up a storage facility over the Jhelum River in IIOJ&K’s Sopore region.
The controlled storage facility was supposed to regulate the Wular Lake’s outflow in the lean season, according to Indian media reports.
The project aimed to store somewhere around 300,000 acre-feet of water. With a 4.5 feet draught, the Tulbul Project would have also helped in vehicular movement between Srinagar and Baramulla.
Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling
In a major ruling last month, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) has no bearing on its competence to adjudicate the matter.
The court found that its competence cannot be affected by the unilateral decision of a party taken after the initiation of arbitral proceedings, regardless of whether India’s recent decision was characterised as a suspension of the treaty, or otherwise.
The court further found that it has a continuing responsibility to advance proceedings in a timely, efficient and fair manner, notwithstanding India’s position on “abeyance”.
