J&K irrigation project attacked

In a foretaste of “water wars”, Pakistani insurgents last week attacked J&K government’s ambitious upcoming Rs 50 crore irrigation project at Navtour in Bandipora in north Kashmir marking a rare departure from the usual civilian and security targets.
The target is seen to be significant in view of Pakistan steadily ramping water as a new area of contention, alleging upstream projects on the Indus system are intended to deny it the natural resource. Although the Indus treaty has worked well and there is no depletion of water to Pakistan, the alleged Indian “conspiracy” has whipped up sentiments there.
Pakistani terrorists operating in Bandipora threw a number of hand grenades at the construction site in the intervening night of August 27-28 to scare local labour and contractors.
The project, to improve flood protection and conservation of Wullar Lake, is intended to provide increase water levels in the lake.
“It was a direct attack from Pakistan,” said J&K minister for irrigation and flood control Taj Mohi-ud-Din. He emphasized the project did not violate the Indus water treaty of 1960. He pointed out that such an attack had happened after a long interval. “In 1990, they had targeted the Tulbul Navigation project but couldn’t cause any major damage to it as they could not use dynamite properly,” he added.
A local contractor Muhammad Shafi said about seven heavily armed militants lobbed grenades at the project site and assaulted engineers and workers there. “They asked us to leave the site and wind up machinery after taking our identity cards from us,” Shafi said.
While police refused to comment on the attack, Taj Mohi-ud-Din did not mince word in blaming Pakistani terrorists. With Pakistani jihadi leaders like Hafiz Saeed making it clear that they were prepared to wage war with India over water, such projects seem to be the new theatre for the proxy war. Brahma Chellaney, security analyst observed, “The spectre of water wars between Pakistan and India looms large and such acts can set off events beyond the control of the two governments.”
Pakistan has protested against all the run-of-the-river projects India is building on the Indus and its tributaries despite this being allowed under the Indus treaty.