Pakistan, April 25 -- The federal government's decision to halt all new canal construction, pending consensus from the Council of Common Interests (CCI), couldn't have come at a more necessary time. While the headlines have focused on the geopolitics of the Indus Waters Treaty, the real crisis lies much closer to home: we are a federation adrift in our internal water politics, teetering on the edge of another full-blown provincial rift.

Pakistan's water discourse is nothing if not polarised. For years, provinces like Sindh have raised alarm bells about dwindling flows and upstream manipulation. The sense of betrayal runs deep, fed by experiences of unmet quotas, delayed Indus River System Authority (IRSA) interventions, and the visible s...