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{{Short description|Dispute over the sharing of river waters between India and Pakistan}}
[[File:Physical Map of Punjab.jpg|thumb|right|280px|The Indus river system in West Punjab]]
[[Dominion of India|India]] and [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]] had a dispute over the sharing of Indus waters in April 1948, about eight months after their independence. The [[East Punjab]] province of India shut off water running to the [[West Punjab]] province of Pakistan via the main branches of the [[Upper Bari Doab Canal]] as well as the Dipalpur Canal from the [[Ferozepur]] Headworks.{{sfnp|Salman & Uprety, Conflict and Cooperation|2002|pp=42–43}} It was resumed after five weeks when Pakistan agreed to attend an Inter-Dominion conference to negotiate an agreement.{{sfnp|Salman & Uprety, Conflict and Cooperation|2002|pp=43–44}}{{sfnp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|pp=210–211}} The critical nature of the Indian action caused deep apprehensions in Pakistan, which were eventually resolved only with the signing of the [[Indus Waters Treaty]] in 1960.<ref>{{harvp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|p=211}}: 'The stoppage of canal water, perhaps more than any other single event in the first year of Pakistan’s existence, gave Radcliffe’s artificial line simultaneous "natural" and "national" meaning'.</ref>

== Partition and Indus waters ==
[[File:Upper Bari Doab Canal (1911).jpg|thumb|right|280px|Branches of the [[Upper Bari Doab Canal]]]]
The Indus river system, consisting of the [[Indus River]] and its five tributaries, was divided across India and Pakistan as a result of the [[partition of India]]. During the [[Radcliffe Line|boundary negotiations]] for partitioning [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], Sir Cyril Radcliffe asked whether the river waters could be put under a joint management, but neither Pakistani nor Indian representatives on the boundary commission agreed to the proposal. The Radcliffe line cut Punjab into two, with [[West Punjab]] going to Pakistan and [[East Punjab|East Pubjab]] to India.

The [[Ravi River]] and the [[Sutlej River]] flow from the East Punjab to West Punjab. At the time of partition, the Ravi River had a barrage at the [[Madhopur Headworks]] and water was channelled along the [[Upper Bari Doab Canal]], which supplied water to the cities of [[Amritsar]] (in East Punjab) and [[Lahore]] (in West Punjab), as well as irrigating large areas in both sections of Punjab. The Sutlej was dammed at [[Ferozepur]] (in East Punjab), with Dipalpur Canal carrying water to West Punjab and [[Bahawalpur State|Bahawalpur]] (then a princely state in Pakistan), and the [[Ganga Canal (Rajasthan)|Ganga Canal]] carrying it to [[Bikaner State|Bikaner]] (a princely state in India). East Punjab had the ability to control the flows along these canals.{{sfnp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|loc=Map 8, p. xviii}}

The three western rivers, Indus and its tributaries [[Jhelum River|Jhelum]] and [[Chenab River|Chenab]], flow through the [[Kashmir region]] into Pakistan. The rest of India has no access to their waters due to the intervening mountain ranges.

== Water shut-off ==
The chief engineers of East Punjab and West Punjab signed a Standstill Agreement on 20 December 1947 to the effect that the status quo on water distribution would be maintained until 31 March 1948 in order to cover the period of the [[Rabi crop]].{{sfnp|Salman & Uprety, Conflict and Cooperation|2002|pp=41–42}} West Punjab government neglected to negotiate a further agreement before its expiry.{{sfnp|Salman & Uprety, Conflict and Cooperation|2002|loc=pp. 42–43: "The real reason for the misunderstanding is hard to determine, but deliberately or inadvertently, West Punjab, until the expiry date of the agreement on March 31, 1948 had not taken initiative to negotiate any further agreement."}} It was also reported that the people in the canal colonies that received the water did not pay the water dues, and shutting off water was the standard tactic that provinces applied to each other in such a situation.<ref>{{harvp|Rai & Patnaik, Water Disputes in South Asia|2012|p=117}}: "According to Williams (1955), the water supplies were cut because the canal colonies served by these headworks did not pay the standard water dues. The people in charge of the headworks were applying exactly the same rides that were applied in pre-Partition India—no canal dues, no water."
</ref>

On 1 April 1948, the East Punjab government shut off water flowing to West Pakistan along the main branches of the Upper Bari Doab Canal and the Dipalpur Canal.{{sfnp|Salman & Uprety, Conflict and Cooperation|2002|pp=41–42}}
Scholars state that it was a provincial action rather than a "national" action.{{sfnp|Salman & Uprety, Conflict and Cooperation|2002|loc=p. 42, note 17: "However, it should also be noted that the decision was that of the East Punjab government, made without official knowledge of the Central government."}}{{sfnp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|loc=pp. 206–207: "For, far from an unambiguously “national” action, the stopping of water flows at the partition boundary was initiated not by Nehru or the central Indian government but by the new east Punjab government, reportedly infuriating Nehru..."}} However, once initiated, it also took on the significance of the Indian government's assertion of national control over water resources.{{sfnp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|p=207}}

Pakistan was aghast at the sudden shut-off of water. The effect was immediately felt in Lahore, which depended on canal water for the water needs of the entire city.{{sfnp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|pp=210–211}} Pakistan also faced a coming [[Kharif crop|Kharif season]] without water for 5.5% of its cropland.{{sfnp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|pp=211–212}} It called India's action "Machiavellian duplicity",{{sfnp|Salman & Uprety, Conflict and Cooperation|2002|pp=42–43}} and claimed "historical usage rights".{{sfnp|Rai & Patnaik, Water Disputes in South Asia|2012|p=119}} India was firm and wanted recognition of its rights to all waters in the eastern rivers.{{sfnp|Salman & Uprety, Conflict and Cooperation|2002|pp=42–43}} Many in Pakistan advocated going to war with India, but eventually Pakistan agreed to negotiate.{{sfnp|Salman & Uprety, Conflict and Cooperation|2002|loc=pp.42–43: "In this situation, one option for Pakistan was war, and there were many who advocated for it, but it would have been an error for Pakistan because it could hardly use the Bari Doab, where all the strategic advantages were held by India. Authors have noted that a declaration of war by India might have led to the extinction of the new State."}}

In May 1948, an Inter-Dominion conference was held in Delhi to negotiate terms. In the resulting 'Delhi Agreement', Pakistan agreed to deposit a sum of money with India as "seignorage". It accepted a framework in which East Punjab would progressively diminish the supply of canal water in order to allow West Punjab to "tap alternative sources". Pakistan's delegation also recognised the "natural anxiety" of East Punjab to use water to develop its own areas which were "underdeveloped in relation to ... West Punjab".{{sfnp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|pp=211–212}} But the negotiators later claimed that they were forced to agree to terms under duress and that Pakistan had rights to existing usages in accordance with "international law and equity". India gave such rights no formal recognition.{{sfnp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|pp=211–212}} Pakistan broke the agreement reached in Delhi and refused to pay dues to India. It tried to create anti-India hysteria over water and tried to use it as a political ploy over [[Kashmir conflict|Kashmir]].{{sfnp|Rai & Patnaik, Water Disputes in South Asia|2012|p=117}}

Lahore received water again after five weeks. As ''Pakistan Times'' reported, it generated "great excitement among Lahore people", who flocked to the canal bank. Estimates of losses from what the Pakistanis called a "water blockade" were put at Rs. 2 crore.{{sfnp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|p=211}}

== Aftermath ==
Pakistan faced an urgent sense of the need to develop new waterworks. Engineers were summoned to address the situation of "national emergency". A "Sutlej link-channel" to Dipalpur canal was constructed circumventing Ferozepur, lest India might block the water to Dipalpur canal again.{{sfnp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|p=212}}{{efn|Before reaching Ferozepur, Sutlej has a small stretch in West Punjab territory from which the channel was taken. It eventually fell into disuse after the Indus Waters Treaty.}} A "Ravi-Bari Doab connecting channel" (which eventually became the [[BRB Canal]]) was conceptualised to carry water from Jhelum and Chenab to the Bari Doab and free Pakistan from dependence on Indian-controlled water supply.{{sfnp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|p=212}} These canals were conceptualised as "national mobilisation" projects that involved volunteers from Lahore and villagers along the canal route, evoking a language of selfless individual sacrifice in the name of the nation.{{sfnp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|pp=212–213}}

Pakistan's diplomatic response to India's water policies in these years involved strong assertions of morality in claiming water rights based international legal doctrines of prior use.{{sfnp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|p=213}} It continued to imagine the natural unity of a river basin that is shared with India despite the partition.{{sfnp|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020|p=214}}
By 1951, the situation had become intractable and Pakistani press was calling for more drastic action. The two countries were said to be at the brink of war.{{sfnp|Rai & Patnaik, Water Disputes in South Asia|2012|p=118}} At this stage, [[David E. Lilienthal]], former chairman of the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]], visited India and Pakistan, and proposed that the [[World Bank]] could help the two countries develop the Indus river system and provide food security to millions of people.{{sfnp|Rai & Patnaik, Water Disputes in South Asia|2012|p=118}} Through the World Bank-brokered negotiations, eventually the [[Indus Waters Treaty]] was agreed in 1960, and signed by the two countries. Under the treaty, Pakistan has rights to unrestricted use of the three western rivers of the Indus system, which India has an obligation to "let flow", and India has rights to unrestricted use of the three eastern rivers.{{sfnp|Cheema & Pawar, Bridging the Divide|2015|pp=12–13}}{{sfnp|Salman & Uprety, Conflict and Cooperation|2002|pp=44–45}}

==See also==
* [[Water conflict]]
* [[Water resources law]]
* [[Indus Water Treaty]]
* [[India–Pakistan relations]]
* [[Irrigation in India]]
* [[Rivers of Jammu and Kashmir]]
* [[Water politics]]
* [[2025 India–Pakistan diplomatic crisis]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{citation |first1=Muhammad Jehanzeb Masud |last1=Cheema |first2=Prakashkiran |last2=Pawar |title=Bridging the Divide |publisher=Stimson Centre |year=2015 |url=https://www.stimson.org/sites/default/files/file-attachments/EnvSecVFPaperMarch2015-FINAL.pdf |ref={{sfnref|Cheema & Pawar, Bridging the Divide|2015}}}}
* {{citation |last=Gilmartin |first=David |title=Blood and Water: The Indus River Basin in Modern History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GfXLDwAAQBAJ |year=2020 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-35553-8 |ref={{sfnref|Gilmartin, Blood and Water|2020}}}}
* {{citation |first1=Sheila |last1=Rai |first2=Sanghamitra |last2=Patnaik |chapter=Water Disputes in South Asia |editor=Dhirendra K. Vajpeyi |title=Water Resource Conflicts and International Security: A Global Perspective |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCi307g3t38C&pg=PA117 |year=2012 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-6817-2 |pages=103– |ref={{sfnref|Rai & Patnaik, Water Disputes in South Asia|2012}}}}
* {{citation |last1=Salman |first1=Salman M. A. |last2=Uprety |first2=Kishor |title=Conflict and Cooperation on South Asia's International Rivers: A Legal Perspective |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8GEr4fyDbqgC&pg=PA42 |year=2002 |publisher=World Bank Publications |isbn=978-0-8213-5352-3 |ref={{sfnref|Salman & Uprety, Conflict and Cooperation|2002}}}}

{{Indo-Pakistani relations}}

[[Category:India–Pakistan relations]]
[[Category:1948 in India]]
[[Category:1948 in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Indus basin]]
[[Category:Water conflicts]]

India–Pakistan water dispute of 1948 - Revision history

Blackandwhitelegal: added first post v1