WRRC Researcher Publishes Study on Water Insecurity in Jammu and Kashmir
Pintu Kumar Mahla has been a Designated Campus Colleague of the WRRC since April of 2025, researching transboundary water challenges and opportunities in South Asia. His most recent work focuses on issues of water access in the Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK). Mahla points out that water is both a basic human need and a geopolitical resource that influences power and politics. In POJK, territorial conflict and changing climate present serious water resource challenges for communities. India and Pakistan reached an agreement in 1960 to share water from the Indus River basin, but since the 2025 Pahlagam terror incident, the treaty is no longer observed. The transboundary Indus River basin is among the most vulnerable in the world to climate change as snowpack in the Himalayan mountains diminishes. POJK’s water scarcity is both a humanitarian concern and a flashpoint for regional instability, warranting more inclusive, transparent, and robust green political governance frameworks. This paper offers a structured interpretive analysis that bridges localized realities with transboundary water cooperation frameworks. The analysis demonstrates how water insecurity in POJK reverberates beyond its borders and informs the need for a deep ecological approach. Mahla’s study was published on March 24, 2026, in the open access journal, Water.