Water dispute with India will be on top of the agenda from Pakistan in the upcoming Strategic Dialogue with the US, it has been reliably learnt. Sources said the agenda of Strategic Dialogue has been reprioritised and water dispute with India was placed on top of the agenda.
Water issue with India is even more critical then law and order situation in the country and the Pakistani side would persuade the US to use its influence for resolution of the dispute. Apart from water issue, other agenda items would be energy issue, market access to Pakistani goods in the US, development of minerals, agriculture and human development.
On energy side, Pakistan would seek the US assistance to generate power from hydel and nuclear sources while on agriculture sector, enhancement of yield and storage capacity related issues would be discussed. Sources said Pakistan has sought $5 billion per annum in the next 10 years, including Kerry Lugar package, for various projects to rebuild the economy and address the causes of extremism.
They said $1.5 billion under the Kerry Lugar package were not sufficient and annual assistance would be sought to be increased to $5 billion. The Strategic Paper has been compiled by taking feedback from all ministries. The water dispute with India has been posing threat to the security and economy of the country.
Pakistan has not been getting its water share at the time of sowing of major crops because its share at that time was diverted by India for hydropower projects. They said a comprehensive paper on the issue was prepared by experts, which would be presented to the US delegation. Richard Holbrooke, US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan has already arrived in Islamabad and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to arrive in couple of days to participate in the dialogue scheduled for July 19.
Comments
Comments are closed.