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| Centre takes tough stand on J&K project | | World Bank arbitrator delays verdict on Baglihar dispute | | B L KAK
NEW DELHI, NOV. 12
The World Bank's much-awaited verdict on Jammu region's Baglihar hydroelectric project dispute has been delayed. The World Bank arbitrator, Raymond Latiffe, is expected to announce his verdict on the dispute between India and Pakistan in mid-February 2007.
Raymond Latiffe, who was expected to make available the verdict next month, has held back his decision. According to knowledgeable sources, the World Bank arbitrator has been set thinking anew with the 'tough' stand taken by India against Pakistan's 'motivated machinations' aimed at blocking the implementation of the people-friendly power generating project at Baglihar.
These sources told EARLY TIMES that Raymond Latiffe decided to delay his verdict after his final meeting with the Indian and Pakistani delegations in Washington early this week. He had earlier informed the two parties that his decision would come in December. Sources divulged that the Indian delegation had submited to the World Bank arbitrator 'relevant data' in support of the ongoing construction work at Baglihar. More importantly, it was conveyed to Raymond Latiffe that India would not abandon the work on the Baglihar hydroelectric project.
In Islamabad, on the other hand, 'offical sources' gave curency to the reports that the Pakistani experts were able to prove with the help of elaborate diagrams that the design of the Baglihar dam was in clear violation of the bilateral Indus Waters Treaty.
At the Washington meeting, the Pakistani experts, according to these reports, raised several pointed questions regarding the technical aspects of the project. Reportedly to some the neutral expert of the World Bank, it was reported in Islamabad, had no clear answers. In view of these "new elements" he sought more time to review the matter.
The neutral expert had shared with the two parties his preliminary assessment at the Paris meeting in October and had asked them to submit their 'written comments' on it before the November 7 Washington meeting. During the three-day meeting, discussions were held on the written comments submitted by the two parties. Both the delegations also made detailed presentations to support their respective positions.
Pakistan had formally approached the World Bank on January 18, 2005 to appoint a neutral expert to arbitrate on its lingering Baglihar dam dispute with India under Article 9(2)(a) of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty brokered by the Bank. In May 2005 the World Bank appointed the neutral expert who convened the first meeting in June 2005 in Paris. The Washington meeting was the fifth and the last meeting that he held with the Indian and Pakistani delegations. |
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