India-Pakistan water war intensifies: Months after Indus Treaty suspension, New Delhi revives Tulbul Project

India had suspended the Indus Waters Treaty after the Pahalgam terror attack in April.

The water war between India and Pakistan is set to witness a new chapter as New Delhi has decided to revive the Tulbul Navigation Project in Jammu and Kashmir.

A recent PTI report says that the work has begun to prepare the detailed project report, which will take around a year to complete and be presented by the officials. This marks the first move by India following the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty in April.

The move highlights India's new policy that asserts its dominance over the water resources in the region. This, as many experts say, shows a new India that's more aggressive in its stance when it comes to Pakistan. The Tulbul Navigation Project was designed to set up a storage facility over the Jhelum River in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore region. The controlled storage facility was supposed to regulate the Wular Lake's outflow in the lean season.

The project aimed to store somewhere around 300,000 acre-feet of water. With a 4.5 feet draught, the Tulbul Project would have also helped in vehicular movement between Srinagar and Baramulla.

Other benefits of the project include generating hydropower, inland transportation, among others.

The work on the project began four decades ago in 1984. However, Pakistan registered some strong reservations against the project, which led to stalling of the project. Later, in 1986, when work resumed, Islamabad raised concerns with the Indus Waters Commission. Finally, in 1987, after several objections, India abandoned the project.

Years later in 2010, the then Jammu and Kashmir government resumed the work on the project. In 2012, terrorists targeted the project work. But despite political rambling, nothing significant happened on the ground.

While Pakistan has said that the Tulbul Project is in violation of the terms set by the Indus Waters Treaty, the feeling isn't mutual on this side of the border. To start with, New Delhi says that it has full right to do anything with the natural resources within its geographical boundaries. Second, the IWT itself has given the right to New Delhi to use the western rivers for non-consumptive aims. This is perfectly in line with what India wants to achieve with the Tulbul Project, because the project is on one of the western rivers, i.e., the Jhelum.