The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_X_on_2023.svgbt_X_over_2023.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_X_on_2023.svgbt_X_over_2023.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    BTS' V and BLACKPINK's Jennie break up: sources

  • 3

    Italy withdraws from China's Belt and Road project

  • 5

    Uncertainty lingers despite BLACKPINK's contract renewal

  • 7

    YG Entertainment's stock price soars over renewed contract with BLACKPINK

  • 9

    TvN's upcoming music drama 'Maestra' weaves suspenseful love story with twists

  • 11

    Yoon expected to replace foreign minister soon

  • 13

    INTERVIEWKorea has great opportunity to lead green transition

  • 15

    INTERVIEWNamseoul University leads adoption of innovative IB education programs

  • 17

    Apple ordered to pay 70,000 won each to 7 iPhone users for device slowdown

  • 19

    Real estate project financing poses biggest risk to Korean economy in 2024: S&P, NICE

  • 2

    Korea could disappear from map if it doesn't welcome more immigrants: justice minister

  • 4

    Late K-pop star Moonbin's memorial space shut down after fans complain

  • 6

    Korean students rank among top performers among OECD nations in educational performance: report

  • 8

    Senior citizens take up half of new job posts in 2022: data

  • 10

    Boeing eyes more Chinook helicopter exports to S. Korea

  • 12

    KAI boosts partnerships with Egypt at defense fair

  • 14

    Rising Thai politician seeks to tackle growing challenges between Seoul, Bangkok

  • 16

    Twitch plans to shut down in Korea over high network costs

  • 18

    Hotels grapple with chronic staff shortages

  • 20

    Naver takes on YouTube, AfreecaTV in game streaming

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
Fri, December 8, 2023 | 09:38
Times Forum
Pakistan: Dammed if you do, damned if you don't
Posted : 2018-10-30 17:22
Updated : 2018-10-30 17:22
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Gwynne Dyer

"India is shrinking the flow of water into Pakistan," Pakistan's Chief Justice Saqib Nisar said on Saturday, renewing a ban on showing Indian TV shows and Bollywood films on Pakistani television. "They are trying to [obstruct the construction] of our dam and we cannot even close their [television] channels?"

On the face of it, this is a decision that invites ridicule. Let us suppose for a moment that India really is stealing Pakistan's water. How does banning Indian content from Pakistani television hurt India back?

The Pakistani public loves Bollywood films and Indian TV shows: Despite their religious differences, these are two closely related cultures. The Pakistani channels pay very little or nothing for the Indian content, but the ban will deprive Pakistanis of stuff they really like.

It's self-defeating and stupid ― but the quarrel behind it is deadly serious. The planned Diamer-Bhasha dam on the upper course of the Indus River will be the third-largest in the world if and when it is completed, and the 4,500 megawatts of electricity it produces would almost double Pakistan's hydro power. That would help a lot in a country so short of generating capacity that it has "electricity riots."

The big dam has become more urgent, as Pakistan's new Prime Minister Imran Khan pointed out recently, because without it there may be a serious shortage of water for irrigation by 2025, leading to drought-like conditions in most of the country. But construction on the dam has still not begun because the money is not there.

Pakistan's previous big dams have all depended on huge investments by international organizations like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. This time they are not forthcoming, because the projected dam would be in the part of Kashmir Province that is controlled by Pakistan but still claimed by India.

Pakistan seized the northern part of Kashmir when the British-ruled Indian empire was partitioned in 1947, while India grabbed the southern part including the densely populated Vale of Kashmir. For all practical purposes the Kashmiri border is permanent, but India's persistent claim on the northern part scares off international capital.

That's what made Chief Justice Nisar so cross. It's also why Prime Minister Khan has launched a campaign seeking contributions from Pakistanis at home and abroad in order to get the dam started. The renewed ban on Indian TV and film is really a way of getting the Pakistani public's attention for this campaign.

Like everything else about this dispute, the appeal for voluntary contributions is mostly symbolic: You can't raise the $12 billion needed to build the dam that way. What is not symbolic is the 2025 deadline for more water storage capacity to avoid a collapse in food production in Pakistan.

It's not clear from the public debate in Pakistan how much of this expected water shortage is due to climate change, and how much to the relentless growth of Pakistan's population. (Pakistan has one of the highest birthrates outside of Africa, twice as high as India or Bangladesh.)

Back in 1951, shortly after Pakistan was created, the country's 34 million people had 5,300 cubic meters of water per capita available to them. The rivers still contain the same amount of water, but there are now 210 million Pakistanis, so there is only 1,000 cubic meters per capita ― and falling. The population is still growing fast, and climate change is coming.

The future of the Indus River system's six tributaries in a warming world is to flood for a decade or two while the glaciers that feed them melt, and then to dwindle in volume when the glaciers are gone. Five of those six tributaries (though not the one the Diamer-Bhasha dam would be built on) cross Indian territory before they enter Pakistan.

The 1960 treaty that shares out the Indus system's water between the two countries never foresaw that the flow might drop drastically. It just said that India could take out a fixed volume of water for irrigation and other purposes before letting the rest flow onwards to Pakistan.

If the flow should drop drastically due to climate change, therefore, India would still be entitled by treaty to take the same amount of water as before from those five tributaries, even though that would leave little for Pakistan. If India did that, however, Pakistan would start to starve, because 85 percent of its food production depends on irrigation from the Indus system.

It's hard to believe that an India which was also facing food shortages ― a predicted 25 percent loss in food production at 2 degrees Celsius higher average global temperature ― would voluntarily give up water it is entitled to by treaty. It's equally hard to believe that Pakistan would let its own people starve without threatening war with India.

Both of these countries have nuclear weapons. Their problem-solving abilities, as currently displayed, do not inspire confidence.


Gwynne Dyer (gwynne763121476@aol.com) has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs for more than 20 years. He is the author of "'Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy (and Work)."


 
wooribank
LG group
Top 10 Stories
1Hotels grapple with chronic staff shortages Hotels grapple with chronic staff shortages
2'Moon gov't neglected, concealed North's killing of S. Korean official' 'Moon gov't neglected, concealed North's killing of S. Korean official'
3CJ Olive Young fined 1.89 bil. won for unfair supply contracts CJ Olive Young fined 1.89 bil. won for unfair supply contracts
4Giant panda statue at Everland Giant panda statue at Everland
5[INTERVIEW] 'Now is time for Koreans to unlock potential in Africa' INTERVIEW'Now is time for Koreans to unlock potential in Africa'
6SK reshuffles top management focusing on generational shiftSK reshuffles top management focusing on generational shift
7K-dramas, beauty, food to maintain popularity on TikTok in 2024K-dramas, beauty, food to maintain popularity on TikTok in 2024
8Scholar's decades-long expertise serves as inspiration for Korea's future FDI Scholar's decades-long expertise serves as inspiration for Korea's future FDI
9Lawyer of Korean descent selected as chair of Dentons Global Board Lawyer of Korean descent selected as chair of Dentons Global Board
10Japan's Nikkei-linked ELS issuance surpasses HK-linked ELS Japan's Nikkei-linked ELS issuance surpasses HK-linked ELS
Top 5 Entertainment News
1[INTERVIEW] Meet the man behind giant rubber ducks that once took over Seoul INTERVIEWMeet the man behind giant rubber ducks that once took over Seoul
2'Soundtrack #2' tells classic yet realistic love story 'Soundtrack #2' tells classic yet realistic love story
3Auction house Phillips appoints new regional director of Korea Auction house Phillips appoints new regional director of Korea
4[REVIEW] Musical 'Monte Cristo' returns with riveting tale of vengeance, love REVIEWMusical 'Monte Cristo' returns with riveting tale of vengeance, love
5Late K-pop star Moonbin's memorial space shut down after fans complain Late K-pop star Moonbin's memorial space shut down after fans complain
DARKROOM
  • It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

    It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

  • 2023 Thanksgiving parade in NYC

    2023 Thanksgiving parade in NYC

  • Appreciation of autumn colors

    Appreciation of autumn colors

  • Our children deserve better

    Our children deserve better

  • Israel-Gaza conflict erupts into war

    Israel-Gaza conflict erupts into war

  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel: 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844
Date of registration: 2020.02.05
Masthead: The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group