LAHORE: A five-member Pakistani delegation, led by Indus Water Commissioner Mehr Ali Shah, left for India via Wagah Border on Sunday to discuss issues pertaining to sharing of water resources under the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960.
Talking to media before his departure, Mehr Ali Shah said the two-day talks would begin in New Delhi on Monday, which would focus on issues of sharing flood data in the upcoming monsoon season, as well as, forecast information regarding floods in rivers coming from India.
He said Pakistan has objections over India’s three mega hydel projects on River Chenab. Deliberations and aftermath strategy to be formulated while assessing the forecast information regarding floods in rivers coming from India are also the part of meeting’s agenda.
Indus Water Commissioner also apprised that Pakistan would raise objections before Indian authorities over New Delhi’s attempt to construct three mega hydel projects on River Chenab.
Pakistan-India water talks tomorrow
It is pertinent to mention here that Delhi had stopped sharing advance flood data since 2018 and they would request the Indian side to resume information-sharing for preventing or at least minimizing casualties and financial losses downstream.
Both the sides will also discuss the 100-megawatt Pakal Dul, 48MW Lower Kalnai and 624MW Kiru hydropower projects being constructed by India on the rivers allocated to Pakistan under the Indus Water Treaty, he said.
Pakistan had earlier raised objections to the designs of the three projects during a visit of the Indian delegation to Islamabad in March, terming them a violation of the provision of the Treaty.
The official said if their concerns were not addressed then the matter would be referred to the higher authorities for talks or taken to the neutral expert and International Court of Justice.
Pakistan has also objected to the construction of nine other projects, with 25MW capacity each, most of which are on River Indus in Ladakh.
Habibullah Bodla, chief engineer of the Punjab Irrigation Department; Pakistan Meteorological Department Director General Sahibzada Khan; Nespak General Manager Khalid Mahmood; and Saman Muneeb, director of the India desk at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were included in the delegation.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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