Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Dr Farooq Abdullah, while speaking at the Gram Sabha convention here on Thursday, in veiled words said that the National Conference was not to be blamed for the Indus Waters Treaty. He put the blame at the Congress Party, which had signed the treaty with Pakistan. Dr. Abdullah was, perhaps, responding to the frequent public statements made by the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which seek to blame the ruling party for having ‘bartered away’ the economic interests of the state ‘for the sake of political power’. At the same function, Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, categorically said that the treaty was an injustice to Jammu & Kashmir state. He also repeated his oft-voiced point: that at the time of the signing of the treaty in 1960, his grand father and the then popular Kashmiri leader, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, was in prison, ‘leaving him with no scope to influence the course of the conditions of the treaty.’ It is not for the first time that Jammu & Kashmir’s political parties have locked their horns on the question of the Indus Waters Treaty, by virtue of which the state’s water resources were lost to a bilateral India-Pakistan agreement. Given the seriousness of this issue for the state and the larger sub-continental peace, it is important not to address this issue with political brinkmanship and, in the process, miss the bottom line altogether. There are some plain facts about this treaty. Irrespective of the political conditions at the time of signing of this treaty, and the debate on who actually supported this treaty in the state, the fact is that this treaty can neither be unilaterally scrapped nor renegotiated. Given the fact that the treaty has been signed with international mediation and guarantees – including the World Bank’s facilitation – bilateral mechanism for its renegotiation holds little room. Keeping in view the critical drinking water, irrigation and energy scenarios in Pakistan – and that country’s sensitivity to the water issue – is also important. Under such circumstances, Jammu & Kashmir’s political parties must embrace a collective path to re-think their strategy for renegotiating the terms of the state’s economic relations with New Delhi and Islamabad rather than blaming each other, which will help achieve nothing. Another fact is that even within the limitations of the Indus Waters Treaty there is ample scope for Jammu & Kashmir to harness the hydropower potential in line with the treaty’s guidelines. All economic analyses of Jammu & Kashmir point to the fact that unless the state is able to develop hydropower in the state sector, its financial stability will remain a far cry. And the fundamental point in that hydropower is the principal revenue earner for the state. Towards that, raising capital is, of course, the key point. However, as suggested by J&K Bank Chairman, Dr. Haseeb Drabu, earlier this week, J&K must be able to raise capital in international financial markets. That is possible only once the government of India provides counter guarantees, as it normally does with such capital raising by the other states. So the point is that the state’s political parties must focus their energies and strategies on tangibles like these, rather than wasting time in blame game. Revenues from our hydropower sector will ensure stable public finances for Jammu & Kashmir – which, in turn, could be used for the overall development of the state, create jobs and improve the investment environment. There is no short cut.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 14 May 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 14 May 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 15 May 2010 00:00:00 IST