Imtiaz Gul / Arshad Abbasi Open Letter to PM Imran Khan and Malik Amin Aslam, SAPM on Climate Change
Respectable PM Imran Khan and SAPM on Climate Malik Ameen Aslam,
As concerned citizens of this country, we would like to draw your attention to the 14.2 KM Zojila Tunnel along with the 6.5 KM Z-Morh Tunnel currently under construction in the Himalayas between Sonmarg and Drass town in Kargil district of Kashmir.
The construction, which began in May 2018, is part of plans to expand the 18.475-km highway between Z-Morh to Zojila. Z-Morh Tunnel partially opened for traffic on the 10th of December 2021, while as of 15 Jan 2022 almost 26% of the excavation work of the Zojila Tunnel has been completed.
We assume that as the advisor to PM for Climate Change, you are aware of the strategic objective of the project i.e. facilitation of he logistics of the Indian Army to the Siachen Glacier and forward garrison posts in Ladakh along the Chinese border.
Why should we be concerned about this Indian expansionist project?
Here is why:
The excavated material – The estimate of excavation of this project was 17345 Million tons of rocks, loose soil, and silt. The whole silt and excavated material is continuously disposed of in the Sindh river tributary of Jhelum River in Jammu & Kashmir. The Indian Ministry of Environment and Forest Government illegally allowed Border Road Organization (BRO), an organ of the Indian Army, to clear 108 hectares of the dense forest of district Ganderbal and 89 hectares in District Kargil for approach road to the tunnels
The site for both Tunnels falls in Zone 5 , an area prone to earthquakes of MSK IX intensity or greater. The current construction activities are likely to increase seismic vulnerability in this area so close to the Line of Control (LoC). Drilling and uncontrolled blasting during the construction may change the titanic settings and may also later trigger earthquakes in this fragile region.
Air pollution, groundwater pollution, evacuation and accumulation of bran, traffic problems, earth summit possibility, earthquake, sedimentation and land sliding possibility are some of the other consequences of drilling and blasting in the mountainous terrain.
Have ministry of the environment observed the direct impact of this activity upstream? When the Jhelum enters Pakistan at Chakoti it turns RED because of the numerous pollutants that result from blasting and construction activities upstream.
The most catastrophic impact of this sediments-loaded flow is the reduction of storage capacity of the Mangla Dam – the sixth-largest dam in the world.
Mr.Prime Minister
Did you take notice of this heavy sedimentation flow into Pakistan, mainly because of this environmentally disastrous project?
We would like to remind you of the case of the Brahmaputra River whose water turned black in November 2017. The Indian Ministry of Environment and Climate Change India immediately brought the case to the notice of Indian Premier Modi, who took it up with the government of China. The Length of this transboundary river in India is only 916km but there is not a single dam over the entire length in Indian territory –
Can India compensate Pakistan in case of an earthquake of higher magnitude in this area, which is hardly 16 KM from the LOC. Is there a way to call out India for damages off seismic activity in this zone?
We have serious concerns about the construction of these tunnels being built to serve military purposes in the already fragile area of Ladakh- which falls within the watershed of Indus and Shyok Rivers.
Since the establishment of the Indian Army XIV Corps in Leh, Ladakh and the illegal occupation of the Siachen Glacier, glaciers in the region are melting at an alarming rate. These glaciers are melting because of the Indian Army’s presence in Ladakh Region.
We wonder if the Pakistani delegation to the Glasgow Climate Summit (held in November 2021) raised the rapid glacial melt because of the Indian army presence and activities in the region? The military vehicles plying in the region are directly affecting the ecology in this area.
A researcher from the Indian Air Force recently informed the government that minimum temperatures have been rising by nearly 1 degree C in Ladakh during the winter months and 0.5 degrees C during the summer. The reason behind this abnormal high temperature is black carbon emitted by mostly Indian vehicles. The ecology of the region remains under extreme strain with the presence of over 100,000 troops in eastern Ladakh.
Respectable PM and SAPM on Climate,
Completion of the tunnels will further aggravate the environmental degradation in the fragile region of Ladakh with consequences for Pakistan as well.
We would also like to draw your attention to the Principle 19 of the United Nations (UN) Rio Declaration which refers to the significance of the procedures, as does the International Law Commission on Prevention of Transboundary Harm from Hazardous Activities.
The Principle 19 reads:
‘States shall provide prior and timely notification and relevant information to potentially affected States on activities that may have a significant adverse transboundary environmental effect and shall consult with those States at an early stage and in good faith.”
We may also recall that the International Court of Justice recognized in 2010, for the first time, that States are under an obligation to undertake environmental impact assessments (EIAs) prior to carrying out projects that may cause significant adverse transboundary impacts. The International Court of Justice had introduced it as a requirement under general international law in the famous Pulp Mills case.
Numerous examples of Transboundary Environmental Impact Assessments (TEIA) should be helpful in understanding how other countries resolved such issues. The same principle was applied to conduct TEIA of Chancy-Pougny Hydropower Station on the border between France and Switzerland, a bridge over the Danube River between Vidin (Bulgaria) and Calafat (Romania). Recently a tiny European country called Micronesia registered a protest against the Czech Republic when the latter tried to plan a coal-fired power plant extension.
These examples are enough for Pakistan to demand TEIA of the Zojila tunnels to quantify the environmental damage and sedimentation flow into Pakistan.
Dear PM and SAPM,
As concerned citizens of Paksitan, we demand TEIA of this project, which is not only an urgent national interest issue but also an obligation under the international environmental law. If you raise the issue of EIA we can also help in technically securitizing the entire tunnel project, as well as potential impact.
