As part of the Indus Waters Treaty signed in 1960, India gained
rights to the waters of the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers, while
Pakistan, in addition to waters of the above three rivers within
Pakistan and some monetary compensation, received the rights to
develop theJhelum, Chenab and Indus river basins through
construction of the Indus Basin Project. Until 1967, the entire
irrigation system ofPakistan was fully dependent on unregulated
flows of the Indus and its major tributaries. The agricultural
yield was very low for a number of reasons, the most important
being a lack of water during critical growing periods. This problem
stemmed from the seasonal variations in the river flow due to
monsoons and the absence of storage reservoirs to conserve the vast
amounts of surplus water during those periods of high river
discharge. [3][4]