t took longer than four decades for the federating units in Pakistan to reach an agreement on inter-provincial apportionment of river flows (in 1991). The implementation, monitoring and regulation of the agreed water distribution was then assigned to a body created specifically for the purpose. The Indus River System Authority was created through an Act of Parliament (Act No XXII of 1992). The most important feature of the IRSA is its federal character. The Act provided for representation of all provinces as stakeholders in Indus waters.

According to Chapter II of the IRSA Act, the authority consists of five members, one each to be nominated by the provinces and one by the federal government. Each member is appointed for a term of three years. Reappointment is permitted. The chairmanship is rotated. An executive order issued by Gen Musharraf on July 10, 2000, amended the membership structure by making it mandatory for the federal member to be appointed from Sindh (under Clause C of the order). Clause B of the order shifted the IRSA headquarters from Lahore to Islamabad. This order was subsequently protected under Article 270-AA of the Constitution. (Clause 4 of the article extended a blanket validation to all orders issued by Gen Musharraf between October 12, 1999, and December 31, 2003.)

Currently, two slots, representing the federal government and Sindh province, are vacant. Member from Sindh, Muhammad Ehsan Leghari, resigned on November 19, 2025, to join the provincial government on another assignment. His resignation and replacement await formal approval by authorities in Islamabad. The federal member, Asjad Imtiaz, was removed by the Sindh High Court, ruling his appointment a violation of the SHC’s 2017 judgment. The court had ruled that the executive order regarding the appointment of the federal member from Sindh was protected under Article 270AA(2) of the Constitution and that the federal government was under obligation to implement it. The court had earlier been requested by Pakistan Peoples Party’s Senator Zamir Ghumro to declare Asjad’s appointment void.

At one stage the court had directed the Ministry of Water Resources secretary, Syed Ali Murtaza, to appear personally. However, on September 10, he was allowed eight-day ex-Pakistan leave. The court eventually suspended the notification of Asjad Imtiaz’s appointment.

Following the court order, the Sindh government recommended that former chief engineer, Shafqat Hussain Wadhu, be appointed the federal member. However, the federal government has yet to act on the advice. Instead, the Federal Flood Commission chairman is currently serving as ad hoc federal member.

The IRSA, thus continues to operate in contravention of constitutional stipulations as interpreted by the High Court.

Member from Sindh Muhammad Ehsan Leghari resigned on November 19, 2025 to join the provincial government on another assignment. His resignation and replacement await formal approval by authorities in Islamabad.

Bashir Ahmed Dahar was the last federal member of IRSA from Sindh. He served a three-year term from October 2007 to October 2010. Before that Nasar Ali Rajput, Fazal-ur Rehman Siddiqui and Dr Illahi Bux Shaikh (acting member), also from Sindh, had served as federal member.

After Dahar’s retirement as federal member from Sindh, Zarar Aslam, Asjad Imtiaz Ali and Ahmed Kamal – all from the Punjab - served as ad hoc federal members. Asjad Imtiaz was initially notified as ad hoc federal member (in January 2011) in the absence of a regular member. In November 2017, the Ministry of Water Resources sought nominations from provinces for the post of federal member. In addition to the provinces, the ministry also sought nominations from chairmen the Federal Flood Commission and the WAPDA (in apparent violation of Article 270 AA of the Constitution). Asjad, a nominee from the Punjab, was notified as the regular federal member on October 25, 2019. He completed the three-year tenure on October 24, 2022.

Both federal bureaucracy and political leadership of the Punjab have resisted the appointment of federal member of IRSA from Sindh (exclusively). In October 2011, the then chief minister Shahbaz Sharif wrote a letter to the then prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani demanding that the original membership structure of the IRSA be restored by revoking the Chief Executive order of July 10, 2010. He demanded that the federal members be nominated from all provinces on a rotation basis. In October 2019, the then federal minister for water resources, Faisal Wawda, stated that the Punjab had expressed strong reservations over the appointment of two members from Sindh. The IRSA and the Law Division had both advised the Ministry of Water Resources to appoint the federal member from Sindh. However, the advice was disregarded.

In 2024, another attempt was made under the caretaker government to amend the IRSA Act through an ordinance. Influenced apparently by the Special Initiative Facilitation Council, the federal cabinet approved a summary moved by the Ministry of Water Resources, seeking the promulgation of an ordinance to restructure the IRSA. Under the ordinance, the prime minister was authorised to appoint a serving or retired employee of the federal government in BPS-21 or above as the authority chairman. Invoking this ordinance, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif appointed Zafar Mahmood as chairman in March 2024, soon after taking oath as premier. Mahmood had earlier written a series of articles and a book in support of Kalabagh dam. This had made him unpopular in Sindh. Consequently, his appointment was revoked and the ordinance allowed to lapse.

It is critical for key governance and regulatory institutions to operate in a non-partisan manner. The confidence the provinces repose in the federal institutions has far reaching political ramifications. Measures likely to be seen undermining or betraying this trust must be avoided in the interest of the federation.

The writer is a water resources expert. He can be reached at