Indian delegation arrives for Indus Waters Treaty talks

LAHORE: A nine-member Indian delegation reached Lahore on Tuesday afternoon for holding two-day talks with Pakistan on the platform of Permanent Indus Water Commission, starting today (Wednesday).

The visiting delegation headed by PK Saxena, Indian Water Commissioner, entered Pakistan through Wagah land route. Welcomed by Pakistan Water Commissioner Syed Mehr Ali Shah at border, the Indian delegation will start negotiation on Wednesday, which would be held at head office of National Engineering Services of Pakistan (Nespak).

This will be second round of water talks between two countries this year. Earlier, a two-day meeting was held on March 29-30 in New Delhi as per mechanism set in the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). Last dialogue between two countries was part of annual 114th meeting for the commission.

A senior official of Pakistan Indus Water Commission told this scribe that that Pakistan has taken up various objections on India’s under construction projects on Chenab River. One of the most important projects from Pakistan point of view has been Pakal Dul Dam on River Chenab, which is also under discussion at Indus Waters Commission level for last several years.

“We want to bring height of spillway of Pakal Dul Dam down to certain level as per provision of Indus Waters Treaty in order to restrict its storage capacity. The Pakal Dul Dam will be the first water storage infrastructure project by India on Western Rivers.

We made it clear to India that there should be no control on dead storage of dam and therefore spillway should be placed much higher than proposed level,” he said.

“The fate of discussion on Pakal Dul will be clear in the upcoming talks that if these negotiations can yield any results. We will be forced to discontinue parleys on Pakal Dul Dam at commissioner level if no headway is made. Afterwards, Pakistan will go for third-party dispute resolution mechanism to sort out differences on Pakal Dul Dam,” said officials.

In addition to Pakal Dul Dam, Pakistan also raised objection to the construction of Ratle Dam, Bursar Dam and Lower Kalnai hydropower project being constructed by India in violation of Indus Waters Treaty.

Separately, official added, “We have taken up six sites that are on planning stage for inspection with Indian side. We have not only sought data of these sites but also expressed our desire to visit these sites as soon as possible.”