Water Power Politics Pakistan: A Critical Struggle for Control

From the moment one mentions water power politics Pakistan, it becomes clear that water is far more than a natural resource: it is a core axis of power and politics. In civilizations through history, “who controls the water commands the people.” In Pakistan, with its mighty Indus River system and legacy of colonial-era irrigation, that statement still rings true. As the devastating 2025 floods have shown, this power remains absolute—and disturbingly inequitable.

In this article we explore how infrastructural control, bureaucratic entrenchment, gender exclusion and rural elite capture converge under the umbrella of water power politics Pakistan. We also examine how flood disaster exposes these realities, and why reform must steer toward inclusivity, transparency and justice.

The hydraulic mission and modern infrastructure

Colonial roots of the “hydraulic mission”

The notion of a state exerting authority via irrigation, dams and canals is rooted in what scholars term the “hydraulic mission”. This was a 19th-century global project: from British India to Egypt and the American West, states built hydraulic works to dominate nature and manage populations. (MDPI)

In Pakistan this legacy continues: the Tarbela Dam and Mangla Dam, the vast Indus Basin irrigation infrastructure, and the bureaucracies that run them (sometimes called “hydrocracies”) are all heirs of that model.

Infrastructure as control – and its dark side

But infrastructure is not merely technical: it is political. The hydraulic mission often treated infrastructure as an end in itself, legitimising governments while concealing inefficiencies, corruption and rent-seeking. (MDPI)

In Pakistan, irrigation departments built during colonial times remain sprawling, opaque and hard to reform. That has made the country vulnerable to extreme events—such as the 2025 floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains and glacial lake outbursts. These floods overwhelmed outdated dams and canals, causing massive human loss and infrastructure failure.

Rural control: water, power and patronage

Water as local power in rural Pakistan

In Pakistan’s rural heartlands – from Punjab to Sindh – control of canal water is synonymous with political power. Landlords may rig outlets, bypass rotation schedules or influence irrigation officials so they get preferential access. What started as a centralised colonial bureaucracy has morphed into localised networks of influence: a “decentralised despotism”.

This echoes the concept of hydraulic despotism as described by Karl Wittfogel: centralised control over water breeds submission; in Pakistan’s case, it persists through feudal and bureaucratic structures.

Floods magnify unequal control

The 2025 floods magnified these inequalities. Thousands of homes and millions of acres of farmland were lost—yet patterns of relief and reconstruction were mediated by the same power networks. Elite landowners controlled aid distribution, while marginalised farmers and communities were left behind.

Thus, the crisis is not just about water scarcity or excess—it’s about who decides, who benefits, and who continues to be excluded.

Gendered dimensions: masculinities of water governance

Water governance as a masculine domain

Water governance in South Asia is rarely gender-neutral. The irrigation engineer, the dam builder, the hydro-bureaucrat – these are symbolically male roles. Institutions assume expertise and decision-making are masculine terrains. As feminist scholars such as Margreet Zwarteveen argue, the exclusion of women is systemic.

In Pakistan, although women do much of the household and on-farm water labour, they have little representation in irrigation boards, policy forums or institutional decision-making.

Women at the front-line of failure, excluded from solutions

During the 2025 floods, women and girls faced acute vulnerabilities: limited access to shelters, safe sanitation and evacuation support. Yet their voices remained largely unheard in reconstruction planning. The masculine nature of the hydro-bureaucracy meant that gendered burdens of the disaster were sidelined.

In this way, water power politics Pakistan is deeply gendered: the authority over water is exercised through patriarchal institutions, while women bear its worst impacts.

Infrastructure, despotism and emerging corporate capture

Infrastructure is politics

As anthropologist Veronica Strang notes, infrastructure is never mere physical stuff — pipelines, dams and canals define social relations: who is connected, who is excluded, who profits. The new wave of water politics involves privatisation and commodification — moving control from public bureaucracies to private markets.

The risk of corporate despotism

Globally, privatisation of water utilities has allowed control to shift from the visible state to unaccountable corporate actors. The UK 1989 privatisation experiment is a cautionary tale: profit soared, regulation collapsed, public accountability weakened.

In Pakistan, proposals to privatise water institutions have sparked protests. Amid an already elite-captured system and male-dominated governance, privatisation could deepen inequality and create a new corporate despotism: less visible but more entrenched.

Floods, infrastructure encroachment and elite projects

The 2025 floods also revealed how mega-infrastructure and elite projects can exacerbate disasters. For example, a motorway near Jalalpur Pirwala reportedly diverted waters into vulnerable settlements in southern Punjab — showing how infrastructure decisions are not neutral, but reflect power.

In short: when water control is framed as technical progress rather than social justice, it reinforces hierarchies of power.

Governance and equity: beyond control to care

The governance challenge

The nexus of water, power and governance in Pakistan is built on layered histories: the colonial hydraulics, patriarchal norms, elite capture and now the advent of market pressures. Reform must address all these layers. The governance challenge is not just about scarcity—for Pakistan’s case it is about equity: who gets water, who is excluded, who sets the rules. Research shows Pakistan’s per-capita water availability fell dramatically, yet governance remains weak and inequitable. (irjmss.com)

Moving from control to care

To break the cycle of dominance, Pakistan needs to shift from a “control” paradigm to a “care” paradigm in water governance. This means:

• Institutional reform: decentralise decision-making genuinely, include marginalised voices, especially women.
• Transparency: allow local communities to scrutinise irrigation schedules, water allocations, and flood-relief flows.
• Equity safeguards: ensure that reconstruction and relief in disasters like 2025 are not mediated solely through elite patronage.
• Resist commodification unless strong regulation and public oversight ensured: water must remain a public trust, not purely a commodity.

Why this matters now

With climate change intensifying — glacier melt, erratic monsoons, greater flood risk — Pakistan’s survival depends on transforming how water is governed. Dams alone won’t secure resilience if the underlying structures are unjust. The floods of 2025 have already exposed the urgency of transformation. Families displaced by the Chenab River floods still live in camps, commuting by boat to drowned villages—while power structures decide which stories are told and which are obscured.

Outlook: transforming water power politics Pakistan for the future

In Pakistan, water power politics Pakistan is not just an academic phrase—it is lived reality. It shapes who lives, who suffers, who recovers. As the country faces intensifying climate stress, the imperative is clear: water governance must become inclusive, transparent and just.

The positive path forward demands leadership — institutional, gendered, community-driven. It demands that water be seen not just as a resource to control but as a common good to care for. That the engineers, bureaucrats, politicians and communities align not to dominate water, but to enable life.

If Pakistan can move beyond the hydraulic mission of control and towards a governance of care, then perhaps the floods of 2025 will not only be remembered for their devastation—but as a turning point. A point when water’s power shifted from elite pipelines to the people themselves.

Internal link suggestion: For further reading on Pakistan’s water policy, see our article on Pakistan’s water scarcity as a geopolitical and climate challenge.