India is treating the Pahalgam attack as a turning point in the India-Pakistan relationship and Operation Sindoor is just one part of the new Indian approach.With the intention to set the new normal, India struck nine terrorist sites in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK). The targets included the headquarters of Lashkar-e-Taina (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and Hizbul Mujahideen, which have bled India for decades.Beyond the military action, India is laying the groundwork to hit where it hurts the most: the water supply of Pakistan. India has put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and has taken steps that have already rattled Pakistan.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADAs previously reported by Firstpost, India has made water central to its approach to Pakistan. If Pakistani actions leads to the flow of blood in Kashmir, India would make sure that waters from India do not flow into Pakistan. In the short run, India is adopting available methods to disrupt the flow of water into Pakistan at a time of peak time in the kharif crop season. In the medium- to -long-term, India has decided to maximise water retention and minimise the flow of waters into Pakistan.More from India
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Tension after Pahalgam: In a first, India uses S400 and Akash systems in a military operationThe many dams in J&K are critical to such an approach. India has started using existing dams and has fast-tracked the completion of new ones.6 dam projects in J&K that rattle PakistanThere are 15 large dams in J&K and six projects are built on rivers part of the Indus system — some dams have multiple projects.Three of them are built on Chenab and two are built on Jhelum — the river joins Chenab later that in turn joins Sutlej that eventually joins Indus in Pakistan.Indus River SystemOf these dams, Baghlihar and Salal dams have made headlines in recent days when they withheld water after desilting and deprived the downstream regions of Pakistan. In a meeting shortly after the withholding of water, Pakistna’s Indus River System Authority (IRSA) said that continued deprivation of water by India could cause a 21 per cent water shortage in Pakistan’s kharif crop season.1. Baghlihar damThe Baghlihar dam on Chenab in Ramban has a gross storage capacity of 428.28 million cubic metres (MCM) and live storage capacity of 31.11 MCM.Live storage refers to the volume of water that a dam’s reservoir can hold for various purposes, such as irrigation or hydropower generation.The Baghlihar is a run-of-the-river type of dam. Such dams have minimal water retention capabilities and cannot therefore substantially affect the flow of water because of low storage capacity.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADHowever, India has not utilised water that it can technically and legally can. Now, that is set to change. Estimates have suggested that India has so far used just around 20 per cent of the waters allowed for usage under the now-suspended Indus treaty.2. Salal 1-2 damSalal 1 and 2 refer to the two phases of the Salal dam in Reasi district of. J&K.The dam has a gross capacity of 284.1 MCM and live storage capacity of 271.3 MCM.The reduction of flow via Salal dam had caused a shortage of waters flowing into Pakistan earlier this month.3. Dul DamDul dam is located in J&K’s Kishtwar.In the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack and decision to squeeze’s Pakistan’s water supply, India has fast-tracked the construction of the next phase of this dam.Once completed, Dul dam will the be the largest in J&K with the highest live storage capacity of nearly 109 MCM, according to The Indian Express.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADThe newspaper reported that Dul will be highly effective in restricting the flow of water into Pakistan. For context, the Baghlihar dam —currently the largest in J&K— is a third of the expected size of Dul dam.4. Uri 1-2 damThe Uri dam is built on Jhelum in Baramulla district of J&K.As Jhelum is a tributary of Chenab, the activities of the dam add to the activities related to other projects on Chenab.To be sure, even though India has said that the eventual goal is to disallow as much water as possible to flow into Pakistan, infrastructure to do so does not exist at the moment.However, sources told The Express that though the dams cannot hold flow of Chenab for a long time, they provide India the capability to regulate timing of the release.“By doing this (closing the sluice gates), even if the choke is for a short while, we demonstrate that we will take coercive steps… The Chenab river water irrigates Punjab farmlands, and Pakistan needs to realise we mean to punish them on all fronts,” the official told the newspaper.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD“To an extent, India now has the ability to induce water-scarcity or minor floods in Pakistan with the tampering of water flow and withholding of water-related information. A sudden release of water or reduction in the flow of water can create some problems in Pakistan,” Prof Medha Bisht, a scholar of water governance and transboundary issues in the subcontinent, previously told Firstpost.TagsIndiaJammu and KashmirPakistanEnd of Article
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The many dams of Jammu and Kashmir that give India a controlling edge over Pakistan
