New Delhi: 

“Today, we decided in the meeting between the PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) and PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) with mutual agreement that until a decision is reached with mutual consensus in the CCI, no further canal will be constructed and the federal government has decided that there will be no further progress on canals without the consensus of opinion among provinces,” Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said during a media briefing in Islamabad with PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari by his side.

India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that claimed 26 civilian lives threatens to derail Islamabad’s billion-rupee Cholistan canal initiative, which relies heavily on continued Indus water flows.

As tensions escalate, Pakistan now finds its water security and regional credibility under siege. In fact, soon after India announced its decision to keep the IWT in abeyance, the Pakistan government on Thursday announced that it was halting the contentious Cholistan Canals Project until a consensus on the issue could be reached in the Council of Common Interests (CCI) amid opposition from many quarters in the country and uncertainty created by India’s suspension of the IWT.

On Wednesday, a day after the dastardly terror attack in Pahalgam, which India blamed on Pakistan-supported actors, New Delhi announced that it will keep the decades-old IWT in abeyance.

“The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be held in abeyance with immediate effect, until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism,” Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said following a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).

The IWT is a landmark water-sharing agreement between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank, that governs the use of water from the Indus River and its tributaries. Signed in Karachi in September 1960 by then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and then Pakistani President Ayub Khan, the treaty outlines the rights and responsibilities of both nations concerning the river system.

Under the terms of the treaty, India receives exclusive control over the waters of the eastern rivers - Beas, Ravi, and Sutlej - while Pakistan is granted control over the western rivers - Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum. The treaty establishes a framework for cooperation and information sharing between the two countries to ensure the fair and effective use of these water resources.

The preamble of the treaty emphasises the mutual rights and obligations of both nations to utilise the waters of the Indus system optimally, in a spirit of goodwill, friendship, and cooperation. While India is permitted limited use of the western rivers for irrigation, it has unrestricted rights for non-consumptive uses such as hydroelectric power generation, navigation, floating of property, and fishery activities.

To implement and monitor the treaty, the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) was formed, consisting of one commissioner from each country. The Commission is mandated to meet at least once annually to review the treaty’s implementation and address any emerging concerns. It conducts inspections, tours river systems, facilitates the exchange of hydrological data, and ensures transparency and compliance. The PIC acts as the first forum for resolving disputes, aiming to settle disagreements through bilateral dialogue. If unresolved, matters can be escalated to a neutral expert or an arbitration court.

Now, the ripple effects of India’s decision to suspend the IWT are already visible in Pakistan’s ambitious Cholistan Canals Project. With water now weaponised, Islamabad faces mounting pressure as both its national security and development ambitions come under strain.

What is the Cholistan Canals Project?

It is one of the most ambitious agricultural projects in Pakistan’s recent history, targeting the cultivation of over 1.2 million acres of barren land in the Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar districts.

The Cholistan Canals Project is designed with several key goals: expand cultivable land in arid southern Punjab; boost national food security by increasing crop output; develop modern agricultural hubs through smart farms, agri-malls, and research centres; generate employment in underdeveloped areas; and strengthen Pakistan’s agri-export potential.

The Cholistan Canals Project is a flagship initiative under Pakistan’s broader Green Pakistan Initiative (GPI), launched to transform the arid Cholistan Desert in southern Punjab into productive agricultural land. Spearheaded by the federal government in collaboration with the Pakistan Army, the project involves the construction of multiple irrigation canals meant to carry water from the Indus River system into the heart of the desert.

The project fits into the GPI’s broader ambition to bring nine million acres of unused land across Pakistan under cultivation, with a focus on climate-smart and mechanised farming.

Why is the project engulfed in controversy?

The project has stirred major controversy, especially from the Sindh province, and has triggered inter-provincial political tensions. Sindh claims that Punjab is unilaterally diverting water from the Indus River system in violation of the 1991 Water Accord, also known as the Pakistan Water Apportionment Accord, which allocates specific water shares to each province. The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) is supposed to manage inter-provincial allocations, but Sindh accuses IRSA of bias and overreach.

Environmentalists warn that the project could lead to reduced freshwater flow to the Indus Delta, increased salinity and desertification in Sindh and pose threats to biodiversity, including the endangered Indus River dolphin.

In March 2025, the Sindh Assembly unanimously passed a resolution against the canal construction. Civil society groups, water rights activists, and farmer organisations have held multiple protests in Sindh and Karachi.

In fact, on Thursday, civil society groups, activists and community members gathered for a baithak (sitting) organised by Aurat March and Women Democratic in Karachi’s Kitab Ghar to discuss the impact the Cholistan Canals Project could have on women in Sindh, calling it “a crisis of existence”.

The discussion — at the intersection of the politics of water, land and gender — centred around bringing attention to Sindh’s existing water woes and the place of women in the struggle, Dawn reported. Many described the Indus River as the “lifeline and identity” of the people of Sindh.

The panel was led by Women Democratic Front Finance Secretary Muneeba Hafeez and Mariam Gopang, a lifelong activist associated with the Sindhyani Tehreek (ST), the women’s wing of the Awami Tehreek (AT).

“Sindhu jo pait pharyo wayo (The belly of the Indus has been ripped open) Sindhu tay top charyo wayo (The cannon has been turned on the Indus),” the Dawn report quoted Hafeez as saying.

What are the implications for the Cholistan Canals Project in the light of India’s decision to keep the IWT in abeyance?

According to Uttam Kumar Sinha, Senior Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses and a leading commentator on transboundary water issues, Pakistan’s decision to stop construction on the Cholistan Canals Project is a major psychological win for India.

“However, in the western rivers (Indus, Chenab and Jhelum), we have not been able to avail the provisions allotted to us under the IWT like building storage capacity of up to 3.6 million acres feet of water.”

He said that all this time, India has not been able to build storage infrastructure in the western rivers due to Pakistan raising objections with the neutral arbitrator.

“So, a lot of water is going to Pakistan,” Sinha said. “Only recently, we have started building storage capacity in the western rivers. Now after suspending the IWT, the more India starts filling its storage capacity, the less water Pakistan will get.”

He added that the aim of Pakistan’s objections all this time has been to deprive the people of Kashmir the benefits of the waters of the Indus and its tributaries.

Read More :

Archaeologists discovered 5,000-year-old remains of an elite woman in Caral