Hydro-diplomacy and the prospects of environmental peacebuilding between Pakistan and India

Abstract

Pakistan and India have a history of animosity on many issues including transboundary water sharing but in 1960 both states agreed on sharing the rivers of the Indus basin by signing the Indus Water Treaty (IWT). IWT ensures sustained cooperation on the issue of transboundary water sharing and sets the parameters for the hydro-diplomacy between Pakistan and India. In recent times, mutual vulnerabilities around the environmental issues and the water scarcity, have again brought in a possibility of extending cooperation on water sharing by revisiting the IWT. Consequently, the hydro-diplomacy has the potential of spill over effect for the settlement of outstanding disputes between Pakistan and India thus paving the way for the regional peace and integration of South Asia. The paper reviews the literature on hydro-diplomacy and incorporates the document analysis to analyse the efficacy of the principles of cooperation laid down in IWT and evaluates the forces that have been behind the treaty and the possibilities for the future of environmental peacebuilding between Pakistan and India. The paper also evaluates the hydro-diplomacy as characterized by the power dynamics, hegemony, and the nature of political and economic relations between Pakistan and India.