THURSDAY JANUARY 13: International Court of Arbitration to hear Kishanganga project dispute on January 14

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani and Indian water sector teams led by their solicitors of international repute will be eyeball to eyeball in The Hague (Holland) on Friday in the International Court of Arbitration, which will hear arguments on the disputed 330 megawatt Kishanganga hydroelectric power project.
Pakistani team will comprise Kamal Majid Ullah, Prime Minister's Advisor on Water Sector, Shiraz Jamil Memon, Indus Water Commissioner and Deputy Attorney General KK Agha besides officials from Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Nespak. A London-based British lawyer will also represent Pakistan.
The dispute tribunal is expected to consist of Justice Stephen M Schwebel (Presiding arbitrator), Justice Sir Franklin Beman, Professor Howard S Wheater, Justice Bruno Simma, Justice Peter Tomka, Lucius Caflisch and Jan Paulsson. The dispute over Kishanganga project across the river Jhelum centres on the diversion of water from one tributary of the river to another. Pakistan says this violates Indus Water Treaty, whereas India says the diversion is within the provisions of the Treaty, which governs water sharing between the two countries.
In March 2009 , Pakistan's Permanent Indus Water Commissioner had advised the government to quickly take up the case with the International Court of Arbitration, after all options at the level of Permanent Indus Commission had been exhausted. Kishanganga dam is located about 160 km upstream Muzzafarabad, and involves diversion of Kishanganga (called Neelum in Pakistan) to a tributary, named Bunar
Madumati Nullah, of Jhelum river through a 22 km tunnel. Its power house will be constructed near Bunkot in Indian held Kashmir and the water will be re-routed into the river Jhelum through Wullar Lake. This diversion will change the course of River Neelum by around 100 km, which will finally join river Jhelum through Wullar Lake near Bandipur town of Baramula district in Indian held Kashmir. Presently, Neelam and Jhelum rivers join each other near Muzaffarabad at Domail.
As a consequence of this 100 km diversion of the Neelum river, Pakistan's Neelum Valley is likely to dry up and become a desert. The most important issue here is the diversion of the Neelum river waters to the Wuller lake. Pakistan argues that such a diversion contravenes the Indus Water Treaty of 1960, which would compromise Pakistan's rights over the river and reduce the flow of water into Pakistan significantly. Further, any construction on the Neelum river upstream will affect power generation capacity of Pakistan's Neelam-Jhelum power project.
Islamabad is expected to request the tribunal for an interim order to stop construction of Kishanganga dam. Pakistan had, earlier, objected to the construction of the Baghlihar hydel project on River Chenab in the state of J & K. The Baghlihar dispute was referred to a neutral expert under the aegis of the World Bank and within the framework of the Indus Water Treaty 1960.
In October 2010, Minister for Water and Power, Pervez Ashraf made a statement in the National Assembly that India had addressed Pakistan's concerns on a parapet of Nimoo Bazo hydroelectric plant on the Indus river but those relating to pondage, spillway and power intake are yet to be resolved.