EXECUTIVE SUMMARYA partially built structure at the outlet of Wular Lake in north Kashmir has stood frozen since 1987, which is a mute testimony to the decades of restraint India exercised in the name of goodwill and friendship vis-a-vis Pakistan. The Tulbul Navigation Project, a modest navigation lock on the Jhelum at the lake’s outfall, was suspended when India halted construction in good faith following Pakistan’s objection. Fourteen rounds of bilateral talks produced no resolution; Pakistan consistently chose obstruction over agreement. This article, in two parts, exposes four decades of willful deadlock engineered by Pakistan through the systematic misuse of the Indus Waters Treaty and its enduring cost to Kashmir’s economy, waterways, and livelihoods. The costs fall entirely on Kashmir: collapsed navigation, degraded fisheries, and stunted tourism. 

BACKGROUNDFor four decades, a partially completed structure has stood at the outlet of Wular Lake in north Kashmir: a monument, unfortunately, not to engineering ambition but to the costs of excessive accommodation. The Tulbul Navigation Project has become an enduring symbol of how the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of 1960 has been weaponised by Pakistan to hamper development that touches the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris.

THE JHELUM RIVERThe Jhelum is the Kashmir Valley’s sole natural waterway with viable inland navigation........

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