Roundup: Militants target Wullar conservation works in Indian-controlled Kashmir
- Peerzada Arshad Hamid
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E-mail Xinhua, August 29, 2012
Roundup: Militants target Wullar conservation works in Indian-controlled Kashmir
by Peerzada Arshad Hamid
SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Suspected militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir blasted a hut belonging to Irrigation and Flood Control Department on Wullar lake and threatened the engineers and workers there to stop work on the ongoing project, police said Wednesday.
The hut erected by the department to implement prevention of Jehlum flood control scheme was targeted with a hand grenade and other constructions were damaged with heavy machinery by a group of heavily armed militants Monday night at village Ningli in Wullar area of Sopore, around 55 km northwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
"The workers on the project told us that on Monday night a group of armed militants came here and asked the workers to dismantle the pillars with heavy machinery that they had constructed in the past months on the site and asked them to vacate the spot and stop work," said a police official at the site, pleading anonymity.
"The militants also blasted a hut to send across their signal and to scare away the workers," he added.
Threatened by the militants, workers had to abandon the project and suspend their work.
The area had been cordoned by police and Indian army troopers the following day. A massive search operation was launched to track the militants.
Top officials of the Indian army and police including inspector general of police, Shiv Murari Sahai Wednesday visited the spot and inspected the damaged hut and ruins of the project.
Reports said around 300 people are associated with the project.
The region's minister for irrigation and flood control said they will soon resume the work on the site.
"Under this scheme we have to raise embankments and do some storage of water and release that quickly, which is allowed under Indus Water Treaty (IWT)," said Mohiudin.
"We are not constructing a barrage but doing the storage in the interest of lake."
The embankment will increase the flood basin of Wullar to 98 sqiare km, said the minister.
Wullar Lake is considered Asia's largest fresh water lake. The lake has been heavily encroached upon and reduced to just 125 square km from 217 square km since 1911. The Indian government has sanctioned 71 million U.S. dollars Wullar conservation project, meant to restore the glory of the lake.
However, pollice sources said militants might have feared New Delhi was carrying out work on contentious Wullar Barrage and therefore decided to sabotage it.
"We are trying to investigate the issue and Wullar barrage angle can't be rule out," a police official pleading anonymity said.
However, top police officials of the region are tight lipped over the matter and avoid talking to media.
Wullar barrage or Tulbul Navigation is an unresolved issue between New Delhi and Islamabad. The construction of 439-feet long and 40-feet wide barrage with a navigation lock at Wullar Lake near village Ningli in Sopore has been strongly opposed by Islamabad. India started work on this project in 1984 aimed increase the water level in the barrage. However, the work was stopped in 1987 following Pakistan's objections, claiming it violates the water sharing treaty reached by the countries in 1960.
India says the barrage was not in violation of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) and will be used only for transportation purposes. However, Pakistan believes the Indian control over river Jehulm water has the potential to disrupt the triple canal project of Pakistan-Upper Jhelum Canal, Upper Chenab Canal and the Lower Bari Doab Canal.
Experts here say transportation aside, the water storage in the Wullar barrage would significantly help the two downstream power projects Uri-I and Uri-II and region's Lower Jhelum power project in the lean season and thereby maintain the power generation from the projects in winters as well.
So far, the two countries have held more than a dozen secretary- level talks to resolve the issue but are yet to reach any consensus.
Post-partition of the subcontinent, water sharing was a major problem between India and Pakistan. The issue was resolved with the arbitration of World Bank, then the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and a settlement in the name of IWT was reached on Sept. 19, 1960.
The agreement puts riders on how the two countries use and share the water resources.
Out of the six rivers in what is called the Indus basin, India has exclusive rights over the waters of the three major Eastern rivers - Ravi, Beas and Sutlej before they enter Pakistan, while as Pakistan has rights to three large Western rivers that first flow through Indian-controlled Kashmir - Indus, Jhelum and Chenab.
The treaty has withstood two wars and numerous other conflicts and is regarded as one of the few such international agreements on the sharing of river waters that has been a success, despite the ongoing rivalry between two nuclear neighbors - India and Pakistan.
Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan is claimed by both in full. Since their Independence from the British, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. A guerrilla war is also going on between militants and the Indian troops stationed in the region since 1989. The gunfight between militants and Indian army troopers in Indian- controlled Kashmir takes place intermittently. Enditem
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