International Conference on Water Resources Governance in the Indus Basin 2013

Water Resources Governance in the Indus Basin

The Department organized a two days conference on Water Resources Governance in the Indus Basin on 9th and 10th of January, 2013. The conference sought to explore critical perspectives on the politics of water in the Indus Basin. We define the Indus Basin by its natural watershed from Kabul in Afghanistan to north-western states of India, and most of Pakistan’s territory including Gilgit-Baltistan. The dominant discourse in understanding water related issues in Pakistan and India, since independence from colonial rule in 1947, has been a managerial-technocratic discourse, which tends to depoliticize issues pertaining to water. Critical decisions concerning water distribution and management have generally been taken in the absence of a full scale political participation of all the stake holders. Furthermore, water has played a significant role in the delineation of the social, political, and economic structures of the Indus society. Impending water scarcity and uncertainty due to climate change in the basin, coupled with a bourgeoning population, poses major challenges to these hydraulic societies. Problematizing these challenges and framing strategic responses to negotiate these challenges remained the main concerns of the conference.

Day I: January 09, 2013
9:00-11:00	Inaugural Session
	Keynote Address: Dr. Daanish Mustafa, King’s College, London
11:00-11:30	Tea break
11:30-13:30	Session I: Power and Politics in the History of the Indus Basin
	Session Chair: Dr. Saeed Shafqat, Director CPPG, FC University
	Speaker	Topic
	Dr. Dan Haines Dept. of History, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK	The Politics of a Technical Approach to the Indus Basin Rivers Dispute, 1948-1960
	Mr. Abdul Aijaz Dept. of Political Science, GC University, Pakistan	Questioning the Hegemonic Discourse in Water Management
	Mr. Mushtaq Gaadi National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan	Forever with the Indus-scape: Epic Memory, Counter-narrative and Siraiki Identity
	Prof. David Gilmartin Dept. of History, North Carolina State University, USA	Professional Water Engineers and Water Lords: Some Thoughts on the Colonial Politics of the Indus Basin
	Mr. Muhammad Azeem Shah International Water Management Institute, Pakistan	Rains or Reigns? A post-colonial critique of 2010 Floods in Pakistan
13:30-14:00	Lunch
14:00-15:30	Panel Discussion I: Will Water Induce Conflict or Cooperation?
	Moderator: Dr. Zafar Adeel, Director, UNU-INWEH
	Panellists:
	Dr. Ali Taqueer, Director, LEAD Pakistan
	A.N.G. Abbasi, Former Chairman, Technical Committee on Water
	Tariq Hameed, Former Chairman, WAPDA
	Anwar Aziz Chaudhry, Former Federal Minister
	Dr. Mehmood Ahmed, FAO Cairo
15:30-16:00	Tea break
16:00-18:00	Session II: Conflict and Cooperation along the Indus Rivers: Pakistan and its Neighbours in international and regional settings
	Session Chair: Kazi Afak, Visiting Faculty, Department of Political Science, GC University
	Speaker	Topic
	Dr. Shaista Tabassum Department of International Relations, University of Karachi	Unfolding the Challenges to the Shared Waters of Indus Basin System
	Ms. Harriet Bigas United Nations University, Institute for Water, Environment & Health, Canada	Water as a Security Issue: The Push for Recognition on the Global Security Agenda
	Dr. Ghazi Azam Cornell University, USA/NESPAK, Pakistan	Governance and Management Constraints to Sustainable Water Allocation in the Indus River Basin: The 1991 Interprovincial Water Accord
	Mr. Dave J. Devlaeminck Dept. of Philosophy, McMaster University and Water Without Borders, UNU-INWEH, Canada	Merging Frameworks: The Human Right to Water within an Interventionist Approach
	Dr. Douglas Hill Dept. of Geography, University of Otago, New Zealand	Towards an alternative regionalism? Transboundary water resources, South Asian civil society networks and the Indus Basin
Day II: January 10, 2013
9:00-11:00	Session III: The Impact of Increased Demands for Water on Development in the Indus Basin
	Session Chair: Asif H. Qazi, Former Special Secretary (Water), Government of Pakistan
	Dr. Zafar Adeel United Nations University, Institute for Water, Environment & Health, Canada	The International ‘Water Security’ Agenda and its Relevance for the Indus Basin
	Mr. Usman Siddiqi Dept. of Political Science, GC University, Pakistan	Water and Energy Impacts in Pakistan
	Dr. Giovanna Gioli, Prof. Jürgen Scheffran and Mr. Talimand Khan Climate Change and Security Research Group, University of Hamburg, Germany and Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Pakistan	Socio-economic Impacts of Water-related Hazards in Northern Pakistan
	Dr. Awais Piracha Dept. of Geography and Urban Studies, University of Western Sydney, Australia	Awareness of climate change impacts on water resources among town planning officials in Pakistan
11:00-11:30	Tea break
11:30-13:00	Panel Discussion II: The Water-Food-Energy Nexus in the Indus Basin
	Moderator:
	Panellists:
	Shams ul Mulk, Former Chairman, WAPDA
	Ahmed Bilal, Director, PILDAT
	Mehmood Ul Hassan, Advisor, Irrigation Department, Punjab
	Abdul Khaliq Khan, Advisor, Mega Dams
	Irfan Ali, Secretary (Food), Punjab
13:00-13:30	Lunch
13:30-15:30	Session IV: Water Management and the Culture of Irrigation in the Indus Basin
	Session Chair: Dr. Muhammad Waseem, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, LUMS
	Speaker	Topic
	Prof. Ganesh P. Shivakoti School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand	Innovative Research Issues Addressing Policies, Institutions and Governance Challenges of Irrigation in Twenty-First Century
	Dr. Imran Ali Karachi School for Business and Leadership, Pakistan	Reform of Irrigation Management in Punjab, and Implications for Institutional Modernization
	Mr. Muhammad Asif Kamran and Prof. Ganesh P. Shivakoti Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology, Pakistan and School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand	Institutional Dynamism and Performance of Spate Irrigation Systems in the Punjab, Pakistan
	Asrar-ul-Haq, M. Aamir Khan, M. Hasnain Khan Punjab Irrigation Department	Water Resources Management in Pak