Rivers Divided: Indus Basin Waters in the Making of India and Pakistan

The Indus Waters Treaty is considered a key example of India-Pakistan cooperation, but less has been said about its critical influence on state-making in both countries. Rivers Divided reveals the importance of the Indus Basin river system, and thus control over it, for Indian and Pakistani claims to sovereignty after South Asia's Partition in 1947. Securing water flows was a key aim for both governments. In 1960 the Indus Waters Treaty ostensibly settled the dispute, but in fact failed to address critical sources of tension. Examples include the role of water in the Kashmir conflict and the riverine geography of Punjab's militarized border zone. Despite the recent resurgence of disputes over water-sharing in South Asia, the historical causes and consequences of the region's flagship natural resources treaty remain little understood. Based on new research in South Asia, the United States and United Kingdom, this book places the Indus dispute, for the first time, in the context of decolonisation and Cold War-era development politics. It examines the discord at local, national and international levels, arguing that we can only explain its importance and longevity in light of India and Pakistan's state-building initiatives after independence.

About the Author :
Daniel Haines is Lecturer in Environmental History at the University of Bristol. He has previously taught at Royal Holloway, University of London and Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. He is the author of Building the Empire, Building the Nation: Development, Legitimacy and Hydro-Politics in Sind, 1919-1969.

Review :
'Competition for water in the Indus Valley has been a major example of competition for this key resource in the modern world. In this outstanding book, Haines demonstrates the local, national and international forces at work in producing the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960. It is a major contribution both to the history of decolonisation and of the environment.' 'Through the Subcontinent's long-running disputes and water-sharing agreements, Haines offers a distinctive, fresh account of how new states emerged in South Asia. Rather than viewing state-building as purely ideological or constitutional, Haines shows how everything, from peasants concerns to Cold War development projects, shaped ideas and realities of Indo-Pakistani sovereignty.' 'Rivers Divided deftly takes a history of rivers into the realms of state-building, sovereignty negotiation and national identity. Sensitive to the distinctive post-colonial and Cold War contexts, Haines' unique contribution lies in addressing longer-term processes, not iconic events, intensively exploiting newly available archives in India, Pakistan, the U.K. and U.S.' 'Excellent and highly readable . . . gripping . . . an excellent contribution to historicizing notions of territory.'