The Indus River System

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From time immemorial man has been emotionally attached to water. Water disputes have existed throughout the history of mankind and various mechanisms to deal with problems have been tried. So far no clear cut directions or conventions have emerged to deal with water disputes. Many organizations, including legal associations, have tried to lay down some principles. The best of these are the Helsinki Rules evolved by the International Law Association in 1966 at its 52 conference at Helsinki[1]. However at best the Helsinki Rules can serve as guidelines and in the case of the sub-continent the conditions are different because they deal with distribution of water for the purpose of irrigation which is not the case of Europe. The recent stresses …show more content…

The Indus then travels a length of approximately 3000 kms through Tibet, Jammu and Kashmir, POK, and Pakistan before entering the Arabian Sea. There are several distributaries that join the Indus River in its journey to the seas and the most important ones which are discussed in this chapter areBeas,Sutlej,Ravi, ChenabandJhelumrivers.
The Indus …show more content…

The partition of India in 1947 was a complex problem and one which the then rulers of India did not solve satisfactorily. The problem was further complicated by the presence of several border princely states especially that of Jammu & Kashmir as well as the river systems of Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra. The Indus river system presented a very complex problem because all the rivers originated either in Jammu and Kashmir or India but the irrigated the areas of Punjab that had been allocated to Pakistan also headworks that regulated the flow of waters of these rivers were allotted to India.Apart from the Punjab Boundary Commission proposition that the canal-headworks system be considered as a joint venture, a suggestion discarded by both countries, no deliberations were carried out on water sharing during the process of partition. Problems arising out of water sharing issues of Indus System would later take more than 10 years to resolve.Further complicating this issue,Pakistancovertly and later overtly tried to take control of Jammu & Kashmir for many reasons including that of its perceived need to have the rivers of Jammu

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