Water talks

This refers to the editorial ‘Back to talking’ (Mar 22). The water talks with India have been an exercise in futility. The two sides at best agreed to disagree. The proposed secretary-level talks in Washington are also not expected to produce results. For Pakistan, the handicap is that there is dearth of water experts and legal professionals in the field who can put up a convincing case before the international community. The bureaucrats who have no understanding of the complex issue are usually associated with the discussions and attend the meetings.

The Indus Water Commission is denuded of highly qualified personnel in the field as bureaucracy has overshadowed the organization and politicized. As a result, there has been a great deal of procrastination in taking up the water issue while India is on a building spree to construct dams/hydroelectric projects and deny Pakistan its fair share of water. Instead of administrators and bureaucrats, the country needs the expertise of foreign qualified specialists in the field in the Water Commission to counter Indian experts.

Arif

Karachi