Washington: Couple of days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Kishanganga hydropower plant, Pakistan has moved World Bank, arguing that the dam violates the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.
A high-level Pakistani delegation will raise its concerns over the inauguration of the Kishanganga hydropower plant with the world body, dawn.com reported.
It said three-day talks would cover four key points: the height of the Kishanganga dam, its capacity to hold water, Pakistan’s demand for setting up a court of arbitration to settle the dispute, and India’s counter-demand for an international expert.
On weekend, Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Pakistan’s envoy in Washington said the water dispute was “hugely important for us as we are an agricultural country and water is our lifeline”.
“As a lower riparian country, we have the right to have unfettered access to the water that flows into Pakistan from the upper riparian areas.”
The Pakistani delegation includes Indus Water Commissioner Mehr Ali Shah, Water and Power Secretary Shumail Khwaja and spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mohammed Faisal. Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali will lead it.
The report said that Ali and his team will meet World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and other senior officials during their three-day stay in Washington, explaining why Pakistan felt threatened by the Indian move.
“We have been urging the World Bank for years to help settle this dispute,” said Ambassador Chaudhary. “It is a dispute that needs immediate attention.”
Islamabad argues that the dam violates the conditions that the treaty places on the construction of a structure that can hinder the flow of a river. The treaty, which distributes the water of the six Indus valley rivers between India and Pakistan, fixes the height and the storage capacity for all such dams.
Pakistan says that the Kishanganga dam is higher than the suggested height and has a wider pondage area than stipulated in the treaty. New Delhi claims that it had corrected both about two years ago, when Pakistan first raised the objections.
Islamabad rejects the Indian claim, saying that the dam inaugurated on weekend “still violates the suggested conditions and is against the spirit of the treaty”.
