Water has always been Pakistan’s lifeline — shaping its agriculture, economy, and even politics. Yet, it is also the country’s deepest fault line, where history, geography, and mistrust collide. From ancient canal digging under the Delhi Sultans to the colonial engineering of the British, control of rivers has never been just about irrigation; it has been about survival, power, and fear. Now, as climate change intensifies floods and droughts, the old wounds of water politics remain painfully relevant.
This was in 1929. The Indus River had overflowed Nowshera and the mountains near it. The intensity of the destruction and flooding was beyond all expectations. Even the British ruler was surprised as to how all this had happened so suddenly.
A team of British experts was formed and travelled along the river towards its source on foot and mules. The team said in its report that the river was blocked by the shifting of mountains in the Himalayas and a huge “natural dam” was formed. When the water pressure increased greatly, these mountains suddenly left their place and this “natural dam” released all the water at once. The flood was bound to be devastating, and 1929 remained a bitter memory in the minds of the people of Nowshera. Time went on, the construction of the Kalabagh Dam was initiated, the responsibility was imposed on the lower-level employees to mark the places where the flood had occurred in 1929. These employees contacted the locals for the marking. The locals had to ask why the government was getting this marking done. These employees answered them according to their understanding that a dam is to be built here and the water will reach these marked areas.
The ground gave way under the feet of the people, the scenes of 1929 started rolling before their eyes, what was the result? Opposition. Now the government can say whatever it wants, but the fear that has been instilled in the people has already been fulfilled.
The Sindh-Punjab water dispute is considered as if this is an offshoot of the Indus Waters Treaty after the establishment of Pakistan. But this is not true, the water dispute between Punjab and Sindh started in 1935 and it also has a complete history. Sultan Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq was the first ruler of Delhi who started digging rain canals, then Feroze Tughlaq worked a lot on it and he paid a lot of attention to it especially in the Multan area. The Lodhi rulers also continued to dig canals and during the Mughal Empire, work was done on it on a large scale. King Jahangir built an 80-kilometer-long canal on the Ravi River to irrigate Lahore and its surroundings, the center of which was the location of Haran Minar. After the Mughals, the British came. Whatever canal system had been established till now was only of rain flood canals which had to be cleaned every year due to floods and a lot of money was spent on it. Governor General Lord Hastings issued an order in 1818 to reconstruct the canals of the Mughal era.
The world was modernizing and methods of controlling water had been learned. Therefore, the matter was not limited to the reconstruction of flood canals. On November 25, 1847, the first Civil Engineering College of the subcontinent was established for this purpose in the town of Dhor near Saharanpur, and its special feature was that from its establishment until 1870, it provided complete civil engineering education in Urdu. It should be remembered that the British took full advantage of the fertility of this region and thanks to these canals, the cultivation that increased, most of the factories of Manchester depended on the raw materials here. Then canals, headworks, barrages, head regulators were built. In 1923, work began on the Sukkur Barrage, which lasted until 1932. When the water was increased or decreased, this was a new situation for the farmers of Sindh. Water scarcity was also felt in lower Sindh, and a new type of issue of permanent water distribution was faced by Punjab and Sindh in 1935 itself. Committees began to be formed, after independence.
In 1968, the Akhtar Hussain Committee, in 1970 the Faisal Akbar Committee and in 1977 the High Judicial Commission of Justice Aleem and Justice Fazal Haq was formed but the matter could not be resolved. It should be noted that from 1950 to 2005, the cultivated area of Punjab increased by 66% while that of Sindh decreased from 23% to 14%. In Sindh, the area under rice cultivation was 50 to 60% till 1950 which decreased to 22% till 2005. Cotton production increased in Punjab while it decreased in Sindh. But sugarcane production decreased by 13% in Punjab and increased by 22% in Sindh. This is a very scary situation with regard to Sindh, but it is not because of the excess supply of water to Punjab. In the history of Pakistan, the approval of the 1973 constitution and the water distribution agreement between the provinces during the Nawaz Sharif era in 1991 have equal importance and utility.
The cultivated area of Punjab is 25 million acres, while the cultivated area of Sindh is 11.5 million acres, but Punjab uses approximately 44.4 million acre feet of water, while Sindh uses 43.7 million acre feet of water.
In this calculation, Sindh uses 31 percent more water per acre and 74 percent more water in terms of cultivated area than Punjab. It should be noted that all the provinces had agreed on this distribution. It can be inferred from this discussion that the devastation caused by floods in KP, while the shortage of water in lower Sindh, the decrease in cultivated area and crops per acre, have created a perception that if the Kalabagh Dam is built, it is possible to face water shortage and reduce production. Now, no matter what you say, the emotions there are so strong that we have just seen what happened on the issue of construction of new canals. At that time, instead of discussing any controversial project, the provinces, especially Punjab and Sindh, should sit together and find a solution to the problem of how to stay safe from frequent floods while living within the existing resources.
In fact, at this time, Pakistan needs a new canal system in place of the old canal system and it should be in accordance with the 1991 agreement. All the provinces had agreed. It can be inferred from this discussion that the devastation of floods in KP, while the shortage of water in lower Sindh, the decrease in cultivated area and crops per acre, have created a perception that if the Kalabagh Dam is built, it is possible to face water shortage and reduce production.
Now, no matter what you say, the emotions there are so strong that we have just seen what happened on the issue of construction of new canals. At that time, instead of discussing any controversial project, the provinces, especially Punjab and Sindh, should sit together and find a solution to the problem of how to stay safe from frequent floods while living within the existing resources. In fact, at this time, Pakistan needs a new canal system in place of the old canal system and it should be in accordance with the 1991 agreement. All the provinces had agreed. It can be inferred from this discussion that the devastation of floods in KP, while the shortage of water in lower Sindh, the decrease in cultivated area and crops per acre, have created a perception that if the Kalabagh Dam is built, it is possible to face water shortage and reduce production. Now, no matter what you say, the emotions there are so strong that we have just seen what happened on the issue of construction of new canals. At that time, instead of discussing any controversial project, the provinces, especially Punjab and Sindh, should sit together and find a solution to the problem of how to stay safe from frequent floods while living within the existing resources. In fact, at this time, Pakistan needs a new canal system in place of the old canal system and it should be in accordance with the 1991 agreement.
The lesson of 1929 and the decades that followed is clear: without trust, every flood becomes a symbol of betrayal and every dam a threat rather than a solution. Pakistan cannot afford to let provincial rivalries dictate its water future. Instead, it must modernize its canal system under the consensus of the 1991 agreement, while embracing climate resilience and equity. Only then can water be transformed from a source of fear into a foundation of unity and survival.
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