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| Talks could be suspended if Pak moves WB for arbitration | | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, May 1: Though the Indian Prime Minister has agreed to reopen the channels of dialogue with Pakistan, reports indicate that the plan could be again suspended if Islamabad approached the World Bank with a complaint that India was violating the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 by building a 330 MW Kishenganga power project in north Kashmir. Official sources said that Delhi is in favour of discussing the water issue with Islamabad when the bilateral talks get resumed. India is opposed to taking the issue to the World Bank for arbitration.
Under the Treaty, the World Bank has the powers to arbitrate and it had done it three years ago when Islamabad approached it with a complaint that India had violated the Treaty by constructing the 450 MW Baglihar project.
The Swiss engineer who had been appointed by the World Bank to arbitrate had suggested slight modification of the design which helped India to complete the project in 2007.
Sources said that Pakistan has started attaching top priority to the water issue after the country had been plagued by energy crisis. Against the daily demand of over 17000 MWs Pakistan was generating over 10,000 MWs of electricity forcing it to order heavy load shedding.
India has conveyed to Pakistan that the Kishenganga project had not violated the Treaty since the design had been changed.
The project had been converted from a storage project to a run-of-river plant, so there was no question of water getting stopped from flowing into Pakistan. It is in this connection that Delhi is ready to discuss the water issue with Islamabad whenever the proposed talks begin between the two foreign ministers. According to these sources, Delhi may be motivated to fix an early schedule for the talks if Islamabad initiated adequate measures against infiltrators and action against the perpetrators of Mumbai mayhem.
The proposed talks could hit the roadblock if Pakistan approached the World Bank for arbitration on the Kishenganga power project.
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