India and Pakistan had a dispute over the sharing of

water rights Water right in water law refers to the right of a user to use water from a water source, e.g., a river, stream, pond or source of groundwater. In areas with plentiful water and few users, such systems are generally not complicated or contentiou ...

to the

Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

and its tributaries in April 1948, about eight months after their independence. The

East Punjab East Punjab (known simply as Punjab from 1950) was a province and later a state of India from 1947 until 1966, consisting of the parts of the Punjab Province of British India that went to India following the partition of the province between ...

province of India shut off water running to the

West Punjab West Punjab ( pnb, ; ur, ) was a province in the Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955. The province covered an area of 159,344 km2 (61523 sq mi), including much of the current Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab province and the Islamabad Capital Te ...

province of Pakistan via the main branches of the

Upper Bari Doab Canal Madhopur Headworks is a barrage on the Ravi River, just 14km from Pathankot city in Pathankot district in the Indian state of Punjab. It is located on the border with Jammu and Kashmir. The Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC) off-taking from Madhopur ir ...

as well as the Dipalpur Canal from the

Ferozepur Firozpur, also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in Firozpur District, Punjab, India. After the partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan border with memorials to soldiers who died ...

Headworks. It was resumed after five weeks when Pakistan agreed to attend an Inter-Dominion conference to negotiate an agreement. The critical nature of the Indian action caused deep apprehensions in Pakistan, which were eventually resolved only with the signing of the

Indus Waters Treaty The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, arranged and negotiated by the World Bank, to use the water available in the Indus River and its tributaries. It was signed in Karachi on 19 September 1960 ...

in 1960.: 'The stoppage of canal water, perhaps more than any other single event in the first year of Pakistan’s existence, gave Radcliffe’s artificial line simultaneous "natural" and "national" meaning'.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Indo-Pakistani relations India–Pakistan relations 1948 in India 1948 in Pakistan Indus basin Water conflicts

See also

References

Bibliography