The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) of 1960 was a watershed agreement that divided the Indus River basin between India and Pakistan. Under its terms, Pakistan relinquished claims to the three eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) in exchange for the three western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab).

To mitigate the impact of losing the eastern rivers, Pakistan undertook a massive infrastructure project to transfer water from the western rivers to canal systems that had historically depended on the eastern rivers.

The Chashma Jhelum (C.J.) Link Canal, designed to divert water from the Indus River to the Jhelum River, has since become a major point of contention between the provinces of Sindh and Punjab.

The Indus River and Partition

The Indus River, known locally as Sindhu, was not navigable for the British due to its risky nature. Instead, the colonial government dammed, canalized, and barraged the river for irrigation. The coastal communities of the Indus delta, who can be described as the true low riparian, suffered the most due to reduced freshwater flows and increased seawater intrusion.

In some areas of upper Sindh Indus water flows in the canals and then it also flows in the fields to remove high salt content. The high salt content water ends up in lower Sindh through drainage canals. Lower Sindh suffers from sea water intrusion and also from salty drainage water intrusion from upper Sindh. Following the Partition of India in 1947, the rivers were divided, with the three eastern rivers going to India and the western rivers to Pakistan. Pakistan surrendered rights to the eastern rivers to secure the western rivers. This necessitated further damming and barraging of the western rivers to divert water to canals previously fed by the eastern rivers through six interlinking canals.

The Indus Water Treaty and the C.J. Link Canal

The Indus Basin Development Fund Agreement, signed alongside the IWT, outlined the projects to transfer........

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