Regional Security Challenges and Water Issues in Central Asia and South Asia: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Being a vital natural resource, water is the need of all inhabitants of this planet. The strategies aiming to possess more and more water has consistently resulted into rivalries and even armed conflicts. Inter-states relations have been significantly influenced by the ever-present water conflicts and their associated complexities. The 21^st century global politics may also pivot around the water disputes in different regions of the world. Clashes over water sharing in Central Asia and South Asia persisted for decades. Despite its extensive geographical area, Central Asia exhibits limited water resources and dispute over its sharing has been a lasting challenge. An exclusive water-sharing mechanism was introduced in the region during the Soviet era; however, the Central Asian Republics (CARs) have also been keen to settle this issue after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. These steps have increased their mutual interdependence for further cooperation to resolve the energy challenges too. On the other hand South Asia is still facing grave threats of conflicts between nuclear arm states, India and Pakistan. With the arbitration of World Bank, the two neighbors signed Indus Water treaty to resolve water conflicts. Nonetheless, being upper riparian India wants to get additional share of the distributed water, violating the spirit of the decade’s long treaty by constructing various dams on the western rivers that are creating water shortage in Pakistan. With rapidly soaring situation of climate change and the expanding Indian projects, Pakistan seems to be severely intimidated by harsh cycles of scarcity of water in the winter and devastating floods in the summer. This paper aims to analyze the prospects and challenges to regional cooperation between India and Pakistan in the fields of water and energy resources, terribly needed for the socio-economic development of one and a half billion people in the region. Islamabad and New Delhi need to learn the lesson from the CARs as role Model to resolve their water issues and enhance the regional cooperation, for water and energy security are the life line of developing economies.