Kishanganga talks: Pakistan sees bilateral solution

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Syed Jamaat Ali Shah, the Pakistani Indus Water commissioner, hoped that Pakistan and India would resolve the dispute over the Kishanganga Hydropower Project at Permanent Commission of Indus Waters (PCIW) level.

Mr Shah said that if this did not happen, Pakistan would have no option but to move the World Bank as it had done earlier on the Baglihar project. He said that Pakistan and India were to hold the third PCIW-level meeting on May 7 in Lahore and he was in Islamabad to finalise the points to be discussed with the Indian delegation.

Shah said that Dr DK Mehta, Indian Commission of Indus Water commissioner, would lead his delegation during the talks on the concerns of Pakistan over the Kishanganga project. He said that Pakistan had two main objections. First, prior rights because of proposed 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum project in AJK and secondly diversion of waters by India was not allowed under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. The official said that in the meeting held in November in New Delhi at PCIW-level, India had promised to provide technical data and information by April 28, 2005 about the design of the project but so far India had not done so. “India might come up with the information at the forthcoming meeting,” he added.

India is constructing its project on the Ganga River in held Kashmir. The Ganga river is called Neelum River when it enters Pakistan and Pakistan is planning to construct the $1.6 billion Neelum-Jehlum Hydropower Project on the river to generate 969 MW of electricity. However India has diverted the water of Ganga River to Wullar Lake for power generation, which is a violation of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty.

Home | National