India agrees to heed Pakistan’s reservations over Indus hydropower projects

LAHORE: India has agreed to pay heed to Pakistan’s reservations over Indus hydropower projects being built by the former according to the dispute resolution mechanism defined under the Indus Waters Treaty, officials said on Wednesday.  “It is for the first time that India itself asked for resolving differences on Indus Waters Treaty as per accusation made by Pakistan,” said an official. 

India, for long, disagreed that the technical design features of the two hydroelectric plants (330 megawatts Kishenganga and 850MW Ratle) contravene the treaty. Yet, it agreed to continue discussion on the contentious issues under the aegis of the World Bank, which is a key mediator between the two countries, in future.  

Recently, both the countries were engaged in talks to iron out differences over the construction of the plants being built by India on a tributary of the Jhelum and the Chenab rivers.  “The Secretary-level discussions between India and Pakistan on the technical issues on the Indus Waters Treaty took place this week in a spirit of goodwill and cooperation,” the World Bank said in a statement following Indus Waters Treaty meetings. “The parties have agreed to continue discussions and reconvene in September in Washington, DC.”

The World Bank announced pausing of settlement process last year. Yet, the foreign lender restarted efforts to reach an amicable resolution of the matter and to safeguard the treaty. 

World Bank Group President Kim Yong spoke several times with the finance ministers of both India and Pakistan, while the bank’s Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva traveled to both the countries to meet with the officials. The World Bank Vice President for the South Asia Region Annette Dixon visited both the countries twice. Yong’s Adviser Ian Solomon made multiple visits to the region.

In fact, the Bank’s teams have convened dozens of meetings with various stakeholders to broker a deal. A variety of proposals have been discussed with both the countries on how to resolve the disagreement. 

“Many of these ideas, or similar ones, would be worth pursuing and merit continued consideration,” said the Bank.

The Indus Waters Treaty, signed by India and Pakistan in 1960, designates the two rivers as well as the Indus as the western rivers to which Pakistan has unrestricted use. India is permitted to construct hydroelectric power facilities on these rivers, subject to its adherence to the provisions of the treaty.

Indus Waters Treaty sets forth distinct procedures to handle issues which may arise.  Therefore, Pakistan asked the World Bank, which is also a signatory to the treaty, to set up a court of arbitration to look into its concerns about the designs of the two hydroelectric power projects. 

In contrast and visibly as a move to stall whole process, officials said India asked for the appointment of a neutral expert for the same purpose.  Both India and Pakistan failed to resolve the differences at the platform of the Permanent Indus Commission and through government-to-government talks.  During several months prior to December 12, 2016, the World Bank sought to fulfill its procedural obligations with respect to both the court of arbitration and the neutral expert.