Islamabad
\nPrime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that the government has decided to enhance the country\u2019s water storage capacity, given India\u2019s designs to weaponise water.
\nIndia in April held the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance following the attack in occupied Kashmir\u2019s Pahalgam that killed 26 \u2014 an incident New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without evidence. The treaty allocates the Indus Basin\u2019s six rivers between the two countries: India gets the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej), while Pakistan receives nearly 80 per cent of the water from the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab).
\nPakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share an \u201cact of war\u201d, noting the IWT had no provision for unilateral suspension. It later said it was considering court action, citing a violation of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in Hague also ruled India cannot unilaterally suspend or hold the IWT in abeyance.
\nDuring a visit to the National Emergencies Operations Centre today, the prime minister referred to the PCA\u2019s order, emphasising that India had no authority to suspend the IWT unilaterally.
\n\u201cBut the enemy has certain evil designs against Pakistan and wants to take steps against the waters treaty. For that, the government has decided that we will build our water storage.\u201d
\nHe said the government would build a \u201cnon-controversial water storage capacity\u201d by utilising resources such as the Diamer Bhasha dam and others.
\nPM Shehbaz said there was a clear clause in the 1991 water accord between the provinces to build on water capacity.
\n\u201cWe will build this capacity with our own resources in the next few years. There is a critical role of the National Disaster Management Authority in this.\u201d
\nThe prime minister directed that weather warnings and calamity threats should be regularly issued through phone messages in collaboration with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.
\nThe prime minister recounted the disastrous impacts of the catastrophic floods in 2022. He said that Pakistan was unfortunately among the countries on the world map which could be hit by natural disasters such as cloudbursts, even though it had hardly any contribution to the greenhouse effect.
\nDuring the year 2022, Pakistan had suffered more than any country in the world, he noted. More than 1,700 lives were lost, vast stretches of farmland were washed away, homes and infrastructure were damaged, and the national exchequer suffered losses of Rs30 billion, according to government estimates.
\nThe prime minister further said that glacial melting due to heat waves also demanded the highest level of preparedness.
\n\u201cWhat happened in Swat in which precious lives were lost, engulfed the entire nation in a pall of gloom,\u201d he said and stressed that the stakeholders in the matter should take an honest review of the incident, directing for a formulation of a comprehensive mechanism in collaboration with the provinces to prevent such occurrences in the future.
\nThe prime minister also ordered a report in this regard.
\nHe opined that in the aftermath of the floods of 2022, the relevant ministers negotiated the grants and public-private partnerships for building resilient infrastructure in the country.
\nThe prime minister appreciated the National Emergencies Operations Centre and expressed hope that the relevant authorities would fully utilise the resilient platform for the progress of the country\u2019s economy and social sectors.
\nHe also assured the government\u2019s complete support in strengthening the institute and its capacity building.
\nThe prime minister hoped that the facility would be connected with the provinces and could convey real-time information with interventions such as an early warning system.
\nDuring his visit, he was given a briefing by NDMA Chairman Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik over the current monsoon season, the flood situation and the precautionary measures taken in this regard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that the government has decided to enhance the country\u2019s water storage capacity, given India\u2019s designs to weaponise water. India in April held the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance following the attack in occupied Kashmir\u2019s Pahalgam that killed 26 \u2014 an incident New Delhi blamed on Islamabad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-487777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n