Zulfiqar Ali (former BBC correspondent)
Pakistan-administered Kashmir has seized control of Indian-administered Kashmir’s water resources and is reaping tens of billions of rupees in financial benefits every year. In the constitution of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, the region has wrongly and unjustly declared itself the owner of rivers flowing from Indian-administered Kashmir.
The Jhelum River and its tributaries, the Neelum and Poonch, which flow from Indian-administered Kashmir, pass through Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Pakistan has built dams and hydroelectric projects on these rivers, including the Mangla Dam and Hydropower Project in Mirpur, as well as the Neelum Dam and Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project on the Neelum River.
The affected population was compensated for the construction of these projects in the form of land, houses and trees. The victims of Mangla Dam were not only given financial compensation but also provided alternative lands in Pakistan and three new cities were built in Mirpur and Dadial. In addition, tens of billions of rupees were provided for development projects and to reduce environmental impacts. Trillions of rupees were invested in these projects, which also provided jobs and business opportunities to the local people.
The surprising fact is that the government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while claiming ownership of the rivers of Indian-administered Kashmir, has been collecting water usage charges from the government of Pakistan for decades for the Mangla Hydropower Project. In addition, the same region also receives water usage charges for the Karot Hydropower Project built under CPEC on the Jhelum River on the border of Kotli district of Azad Kashmir and Punjab, while this hydropower plant is located in the province of Punjab.
Apart from this, this region also receives cheap electricity from Pakistan, for which it is justified that the rivers of Indian-administered Kashmir are their property, which is contrary to reality. In the financial year 2024-2025 alone, the government of Pakistan gave a subsidy of Rs 108 billion on electricity to Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while in the current financial year too, a subsidy of Rs 74 billion was allocated. In addition, the water usage charges of the hydropower project established on the Poonch River in Gulpur under Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the hydropower projects of the Laraib Company on the canal drawn from the Jhelum River are also being collected by the government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Taxes are also being collected from these projects.
The fact is that the rivers on which all these projects have been established originate from Indian-administered Kashmir. Whether these projects are built by the Pakistani government, part of CPEC, built with FDI or by private companies, their main water source is located in Indian-administered Kashmir. According to experts, the claim of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir government to own or have permanent financial benefits over these rivers raises several questions.
For example, the 150 MW hydropower project at Patrand near Muzaffarabad was built under FDI. The water usage charges for this project are divided into two parts, one part of which is given to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because the project is located on the Kunhar River, which originates in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Most surprisingly, Pakistan-administered Kashmir comprises only six percent of the area of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, but the constitution of the region wrongly and unjustly claims ownership of the water resources of Indian-administered Kashmir. According to experts, this mindset clearly reflects an exploitative and colonialist mentality.
Experts say that the Pakistani government and the relevant companies should immediately stop paying water usage charges to the Pakistan-administered Kashmir government as it has several legal complications, and the Pakistani government should also review the provision of cheap electricity to Pakistan-administered Kashmir based on these rivers. They say that this income should be spent on the welfare of Kashmiri refugees who were displaced due to the cold-blooded behavior of the Azad Kashmir governments and political parties.
Experts further say that the Pakistan-administered Kashmir governments have so far received benefits worth trillions of rupees in the form of water usage charges and cheap electricity. According to them, this money should be withdrawn and spent on the welfare of refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir. Experts have stressed that “the Pakistan-administered Kashmir government should give up its claim on the water resources of Indian-administered Kashmir, refrain from deriving benefits from them and refrain from declaring these water resources as resources of Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the future.”
Tayyab, a student from Indian-administered Kashmir, said in this regard that “the constitution of Pakistan-administered Kashmir is the only constitution in the world that believes in exploitation, and this constitution should be repealed.”
٭٭٭
Share this content:
