PESHAWAR – India’s stoppage of water flow to Pakistan has sparked fresh fears. Consequently, engineers are accelerating efforts to divert the Chenab River toward the Beas and Ravi rivers. As a result, top Pakistani experts warn this move could severely impact the country’s water security.
Engineer Arshad H. Abbasi, one of Pakistan’s leading water resource analysts, revealed in his latest report that India is rapidly building a 23-kilometre concrete tunnel. This tunnel connects the Chenab to Solang Nallah, which eventually flows into the Ravi River. Therefore, the diverted water from the Chenab will be routed to the Ranjit Sagar Dam. India constructed this dam on the Ravi in 2001. India allocated funding for the tunnel in its 2011–2012 budget.
Meanwhile, under the cover of regional development, Indian authorities are pushing the plan to reduce downstream flow into Pakistan. Abbasi has urged Pakistan’s government to raise the issue urgently. He claims India’s stoppage of water flow to Pakistan is a strategic move deliberately designed to harm agriculture and hydropower production.
River of the Moon
The Chenab, often called the “River of the Moon,” flows through only 130 kilometres of Himachal Pradesh. This represents just 7,500 square kilometres of its 61,000-square-kilometre basin. However, India has packed 49 hydropower projects into this fragile stretch. Consequently, this pushes one of South Asia’s last relatively free-flowing rivers to the brink of overexploitation.
Indian engineers have already completed the 9.7-kilometre Bagru Nallah tunnel—the country’s largest—and are near completion on the 14.2-kilometre Zoji La tunnel in the high Himalayas. Therefore, Abbasi warns India will likely use this tunneling expertise to connect the Chenab with both the Beas and Ravi rivers.
Environmental experts in Pakistan call for immediate action. They warn stoppage of water flow to Pakistan could cause ecological destruction, crop failure, and worsen water scarcity in already drought-prone regions. “This is not an infrastructure project. It’s a chokehold,” said one senior water policy adviser.
Furthermore, India’s withdrawal from the Indus River Treaty framework removed key diplomatic safeguards. Now, with India openly rejecting the pact’s terms and advancing unilateral water projects, Pakistani officials face an urgent task. They must defend their water rights on global platforms.
As construction continues and political tensions rise, the Chenab River has become the latest flashpoint in the region’s shifting hydropolitics. Without swift diplomatic and legal responses, India’s stoppage of water flow to Pakistan could reshape the region’s water map—and not in Pakistan’s favor.
Read More: India Suspends Indus Waters Treaty, Turning Water Into Weapon
