Commissioner Indus Water Commission Syed Jamat Ali Shah on Tuesday urged India to suspend the construction work on Kishanganga dam till resolution of the dispute. "Pakistan will not become a party to delay the resolution of Kishanganga dam issue. If India is interested lingering on the issue, they should suspend the construction work first. We will be ready to hold talks continuously till the final resolution," he told PTV. However, Pakistan would prefer commission level resolution of the dispute, he added.
Pakistan has valid objections. If India does not consider the objections as valid the option of going to neutral experts could be explored. India has the right to prove her veracity in any forum including the World Bank.
Completely ruling out any compromise on Pakistan's rights, he said, "We have graciously extended the dead line up to three months (July 15 2005). Pakistan in any circumstances will not compromise on dam's design."
Replying to a question he said Pakistan has converged its objections into six questions. The time extension has been agreed upon to enable the Indians to come with complete data.
The self-generating mechanism of Indus water treaty allows the water commissioners to proceed for neutral experts in case of failure to bilateral resolution. Within 30 days if both the governments failed to appoint neutral experts, the commissioner could request to World Bank for compromise, he said.
Under Indus Water Treaty India has been allowed to store 0.75 million acre feet water, he said.
Pakistan has launched the Neelum-Jhelum project first. The Indus water treaty does not permit India to divert the water of Neelum river (for any purpose).
India must remove technical objections on dams structure.
Pakistan raised three objections on dam's design in 1994. Despite making promise of design change, they started construction work in 2002, he added.
The negotiations on Kishanganga started in May 2004 in New Delhi. Both parties agreed to resolve the issue expeditiously. In November 2004 it was agreed upon to resolve the issue within three months. India provided the scant information in February 2005.
Now the both parties have comprehended their point of views clearly. But both have not been agreed on any thing as yet, he concluded.
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