Lahore, Aug 28: A delegation of the Indian Water Commission arrived in Pakistan today to hold crucial talks with its counterpart on various aspects of the Indus Waters Treaty, the first bilateral engagement since Prime Minister Imran Khan took office.
Pakistan Water Commissioner Syed Mehr Ali Shah and additional commissioner Sheraz Jamil received the nine-member Indian delegation led by Water Commissioner P K Saxena on its arrival here via Wagah border.
Talking to reporters, Shah said talks between the two countries will be held on water issues on Wednesday and Thursday in Lahore.
The talks will be the first official engagement between India and Pakistan since Khan became prime minister on August 18.
The last meeting of the Pakistan-India Permanent Indus Commission was held in New Delhi in March during which both the sides had shared details of the water flow and the quantum of water being used under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.
India and Pakistan signed the treaty in 1960 after nine years of negotiations, with the World Bank being a signatory.
The treaty sets out a mechanism for cooperation and information exchange between the two countries regarding their use of the rivers. However, there have been disagreements and differences between India and Pakistan over the treaty.
Shah said Pakistan has raised objections on 1000MW Pakal Dul and 48MW Lower Kalnai hydroelectric projects on River Chenab and a detailed discussion will be held during the talks.
“We had also raised concerns over construction of dams on Pakistani rivers and India did not bother about it and continued doing the same,” Shah said, adding India will reply to Pakistan’s queries on controversial water projects.
Former Pakistan Indus Water Commissioner Syed Jamaat Ali Shah told PTI that the successive Pakistani governments had given much importance to its water disputes with India.
“India does not bother Pakistan in this regard. It begins work on building hydro power projects on the Pakistani rivers and the Pakistani government raises objections afterwards. Unless the Pakistani government seriously takes up these matters with India it will not get relief,” he said and added that Pakistan also needs to plead its case in the World Bank.
According to an official of Pakistan Water Commission, Pakistan has been raising reservations over the designs of the two projects – 1000MW Pakal Dul and 48MW Lower Kalnai hydroelectric projects on River Chenab – and would like India to either modify the designs to make them compliant to 1960 Indus Waters Treaty or put the projects on hold until Delhi satisfies Islamabad.
“The two sides will in talks also finalise the schedule of future meetings of the Permanent Indus Commission and visits of the teams of the Indus commissioners,” the official said.
The water commissioners of Pakistan and India were required to meet twice a year and arrange technical visits to projects’ sites and critical river head works, but Pakistan had been facing a lot of problems in timely meetings and visits.
Pakistan has also challenged the discharge series of River Lower Kalnai at Dunadi for winter months and estimated permissible pondage of 0.38 cubic megametres compared to Indian design pondage of 2.74 cubic megametres. The Lower Kalnai project is on a left bank tributary of Chenab and can have gross storage of about 1,508 acre feet of water.
IWT provided framework for resolving disputes on water use: UN Dy Secretary-General
United Nations, Aug 28: The 1960 Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan has survived disputes between the two countries and provided a framework for resolving disagreements over water use, a top UN official has said.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, addressing the High-Level Panel on Water Diplomacy in Stockholm yesterday, said that water can represent a source of cooperation, shared growth and mutual support.
She, however, warned that getting caught up in “water-war” rhetoric will be a mistake for the international community.
“When we examine history, we see that cooperation over water can prevail over conflict over water. Through water diplomacy, sometimes known as ‘hydrodiplomacy’, neighbouring states can be reminded of the benefits of cooperating around water resources,” she said, adding that water, if fairly shared, can become a confidence-building measure.
Such confidence-building measures are urgently needed in many of the current conflict areas, Mohammed said.
“The 1960 Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan has survived disputes between the two countries, providing a framework for resolving disagreements over water use.
“In the Middle East, water use has been an area where cooperation has been possible between some countries. In Central Asia, the United Nations is collaborating closely with the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea,” she said.
Mohammed said that by 2050, the world population is projected to rise to 9 billion, who will be sharing a finite resource — water.
“One third of the world’s population already lives in countries with water stress. As the impacts of climate change grows, so too will the prospects of further stress,” she said.
She stressed that water security encapsulates complex and interconnected challenges and highlights water’s centrality for achieving a larger sense of security, sustainability, development and human well-being.
Many factors contribute to water security, ranging from biophysical to infrastructural, institutional, political, social and financial – many of which lie outside the water realm, the UN official added.
India and Pakistan, nuclear-armed arch rivals in south Asia, signed the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960 after nine years of negotiations, with the World Bank also being a signatory.
The Treaty sets out a mechanism for cooperation and information exchange between the two countries regarding their use of the rivers. However, there have been disagreements and differences between India and Pakistan over the treaty.
While the World Bank has said India is allowed to construct hydroelectric power facilities on tributaries of the Jhelum and Chenab rivers with certain restrictions under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, Pakistan opposes the construction of the Kishanganga (330 megawatts) and Ratle (850 megawatts) hydroelectric power plants being built by India.
