Indus Valley in Leh, Kashmir, a source of water for Pakistan Photo: Kenny OMG via Wikimedia Commons
Pakistan and India will hold talks on the Kishanganga and Ratle hydropower projects, in Washington from April 11, Islamabad said Tuesday after hosting the first talks on water issues this week.
The two-day Indus Water Commission talks – held after a hiatus of two years and amid fears over water wars between the two tense South Asian neighbors – concluded in Islamabad on Tuesday with a positive outcome.
New Delhi agreed to change the design of the controversial Meyar Hydropower Project being constructed in the Indian-controlled Kashmir besides reviewing the Lower Kulnai and Pakul Dal projects.
“Both the sides have agreed to continue talks on the controversial hydro power projects,” a communique issued at the end of the Islamabad talks stated.
The resumption of meetings under Permanent Indus Water Commission follows a year of military and political tensions – stemming from Indian repression in Kashmir and a mililtant attack on an Indian military base in the disputed territory. New Delhi had unilaterally suspended in September last year.
A delegation of Pakistani hydrologists will visit the controversial hydro power projects in the Indian-controlled Kashmir – the source of river inflows into Pakistan agricultural heartland.
The talks in Washington would be attended by secretaries of water ministries of the two countries over three days and focus on the disputed hydropower projects in April.
Pakistan’s Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif revealed Washington’s backing of the talks.
Speaking on the sidelines of the two-day talks between Indus Water Commissioners from both sides, Asif welcomed New Delhi’s decision to resume negotiations under the 1960 World Bank-negotiated Indus Waters Treaty on the proposed Pakul Dal, Miyar and Lower Kalnai hydropower projects, to which Pakistan has raised objections.
“The United States has intervened at the highest level to help both countries resolve the issue,”Asif said.
Islamabad has been protesting the design and construction of two controversial projects, the 330 MW Kishanganga hydroelectric project and the 850 MW Ratle hydroelectric project on the tributaries of the Indus in the Indian controlled Jammu and Kashmir.
New Delhi claims that it has the right under the treaty to set up hydro power plants on the tributaries of the rivers . Pakistan fears the Indian moves might reduce water flows from rivers it is entitleed to.
The two countries held the Indus Water Commission meeting last time in May 2015 in New Delhi.
