BLOG
March 5th, 2022
Via The Frontier Post, an article on Pakistan – India water dialogue:
The 117th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) composed of Indus Commissioners of Pakistan and India was held in Islamabad in recent days. The two sides discussed the entire range of water-related issues between both countries under the relevant provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) 1960. During the meeting, Pakistan reiterated its observations on the Kiru Hydroelectric Project (HEP) located upstream of the River Chenab and India’s new run-of-the-river small HEPs on western rivers including the Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai projects.
Indus Water Treaty (IWT) was concluded between Pakistan and India with the facilitation of the World Bank to resolve the water dispute between the two countries in 1960. Under the agreement, the water of the three Eastern rivers including Ravi, Sutlej, and Bias were allotted to India while Pakistan’s right was accepted over three western rivers such as Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab. However, after some time India started construction of power projects on the rivers deputed to Pakistan while taking shelter from technical flaws in the treaty. According to reports, India had constructed nearly a dozen major power and agricultural projects on Pakistani rivers during the last three decades. The Indian government had awarded the contract for the construction of the Pakal Dul hydro-Project in February 2014, which was scheduled to be completed in 2018. Similarly, the Lower Kalnai project was started in September 2013. During the meeting, the Pakistani side urged the Indian delegation that it had decided to invoke article 9 of the treaty to use an arbitration forum for the resolution of the issues while the Indian side said that it will be too early to involve a mediator, hence both sides decided to meet next year as per routine. India claims that Indian projects are according to the technical parameters of the treaty, hence they successfully lured Mehar Ali Shah and his colleagues into their trap and gained more time for completion of the projects. In fact, PCIW should approach the world bank for the appointment of a neutral arbitrator so India could not complete the projects before the resolution of the disputes.