- Muhammad Ali
Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) was signed in 1960 between India and Pakistan under the aegis of World Bank, which stands as the guarantor. Pakistan had approached the World Bank last year, raising its objections over designs of the two under-constructed projects, which India wants to complete as early as possible to utilize its illegitimate share of water under the IWT. Pakistan believes that the existing designs of the projects would not let adequate water to flow to its side. The second round of discussions between India and Pakistan on Ratle and Kishanganga hydroelectric projects, over which Pakistan has raised objections, will take place in Washington on September 14 and 15 under the support of the World Bank.
Union Water Resources Secretary Amarjit Singh will lead the Indian delegation comprising representatives from the Ministry of External Affairs, Power, India’s Indus Water Commissioner and Central Water Commission. “A multi-disciplinary (Indian) delegation led by secretary Singh will hold second round of technical discussions on Ratle and Kishenganga hydroelectric projects with Pakistan.
The first round of discussion had taken place in Washington on July 31 and August 1 this year. The spirit of cooperation displayed during the last meeting was welcomed in Washington, the World Bank decided not to publicize the talks.
However, it did issue a brief statement on Aug 1, announcing that the talks had ended and the two sides agreed to meet again in September. The World Bank also issued a fact-sheet with the statement, giving a brief description of the dispute and the efforts it had made to resolve it. The bank clarified that it was not financing the disputed projects.
Indian stance proposed that they do not require any approval or clearance from third party for constructing projects such as Kishenganga on the Western Rivers which projects the hostile and roguish attitude of India. The World Bank had also maintained that the first round discussions were held in a spirit of “goodwill and cooperation”.
It demanded that the World Bank, which is the mediator between the two countries under the 57-year-old water-sharing pact, set up a court of arbitration to look into its concerns.
India and Pakistan currently disagree over whether the technical design features of the two hydroelectric plants – Kishanganga (330 megawatts) and Ratle (850 megawatts) – contravene the IWT. The Kishanganga plant is proposed on a tributary of the Jhelum River while the Ratle will come up on the Chenab River. The Treaty designates these two rivers as well as the Indus as the “Western Rivers” to which Pakistan has rights of unrestricted use.
Following this, the international lender had in November 2016 initiated two simultaneous processes-for appointing neutral expert and establishment of court of arbitration, to look at technical differences between the two countries in connection with the project. The current roundtable is an effort to negotiate water dispute between India and Pakistan in order to serve the disputed issues between the neighboring countries. Pakistan being an agrarian country, water is lifeline to serve its purposes and Pakistan cannot negate the importance of water to contributein its economy. If India has not stopped its resilient and aggressive attitude against Pakistan, it could turn into a conflict, as India has already started increasing the border violations India must have to show responsible behavior for the better future of South Asia, other wise this region could plunge into distruction.
