Former Punjab Special Chief Secretary Karan Bir Singh Sidhu has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to convert the Centre’s decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty, 1960, in abeyance into a permanent statutory measure through an act of parliament.Reacting to Shah’s recent call for interlinking rivers from the Brahmaputra to the Cauvery, Sidhu, a 1984-batch IAS officer, said the Union government’s river-linking vision could find an immediate application in the Indus basin.In a letter to Shah, a copy of which was available with The Tribune, Sidhu has proposed the creation of a statutory authority empowered to plan, finance and implement the development and interlinking of the western rivers, including Indus, Jhelum and Chenab, with the eastern Rivers, Ravi and Beas.Sidhu cited developments since April 2025 that, he said, indicated that the government had already moved towards restructuring the management of waters covered by the treaty.Following the Pahalgam terror attack on April 23, 2025, the Cabinet Committee on Security placed the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.He further referred to a statement by Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil in February 2026 that no water from the western rivers would reach Pakistan within one-and-a-half to two years.Sidhu further said the Centre has given approval in May 2026 to the Chenab Beas Link Tunnel, an 8.7-km tunnel through the Great Himalayan watershed at Koksar. The project is intended to carry Chenab water into the Beas system.Describing the tunnel as a practical example of river interlinking, Sidhu said it was already doing, “quietly”, what the Home Minister has proposed in his recent address at Mahabalipuram.Sidhu further said the government’s present approach lacked a permanent statutory framework. According to him, an executive decision placing the treaty in abeyance could potentially be reversed by another executive decision, while a statutory enactment would provide greater legal and institutional certainty.Sidhu has proposed that the government consider the Indus Waters Treaty (Abrogation) and Western Rivers Development Authority Bill, 2026. He has suggested that the proposed authority be modelled on the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), which has administered the eastern rivers for decades.He has also sent a draft of the proposed legislation along with his letter to the Home Minister.Talking to The Tribune, Sidhu said the draft was intended only as an input for the Union government’s own legislative exercise and was not a claim to authorship of the policy.Sidhu served as Financial Commissioner (Revenue) twice and as Principal Secretary, Irrigation, in Punjab before retiring as Special Chief Secretary in July 2021.