For decades, India, the worst foe, has worked persistently to promote a misleading narrative at international fora — that Pakistan is wasting approximately forty million of acre-feet (MAF) of water into the Arabian Sea each year. This claim is frequently invoked by Indian officials to justify the construction of dams on the western rivers in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, portraying Pakistan as a negligent custodian of its own water share. But beneath this narrative lies a reality far more urgent — and far more perilous.

What India calls “wastage” is, in fact, the critical ecological flow of the Indus River to its natural endpoint — the Arabian Sea — via the Indus Delta. This delta is not just a geographic feature; it is one of the world’s most fragile and significant delta systems. It sustains vast mangrove forests, supports a centuries-old fishing economy and provides the freshwater foundation for agriculture and life in lower Sindh. More than 1.5 million people across Thatta, Sujawal and Badin districts depend directly on the health of this ecosystem.

The above fresh water wastage symbol cited by Indian sources is an absolute distortion based on historical flows that occurred before the construction of major dams, barrages, and canal networks. In reality, Pakistan today diverts over 90% of its surface water for agriculture and domestic needs. Only a small trickle — between 1 and 5 MAF per year — now reaches the Indus Delta, dramatically below the 10 MAF minimum threshold reportedly recommended in the 1991 Water Apportionment........

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