Lahore (August 29, 2018): Talks between Pakistan and India over violation of the Indus Water Treaty, with two controversial water storage and hydropower projects being built by India, begins in Lahore today.
A nine-member delegation headed by Indian Water Commissioner P K Saxena reached Pakistan via Wagah border a day earlier.
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The Pakistani delegation will be headed by Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters Syed Meher Ali Shah.
During the talks, both the countries will present their reports on the matter.
Following meetings between the two parties, a joint notification would be issued.
Earlier on August 28, the 9-member Indian Delegation reached Pakistan via Wagha border the construction of two Indian power projects under the ambit of the Indus Water Treaty.
The two-day moot will focus on Indian hydropower projects at Lower Kalnai and Pakal Dul which will have installed capacity of 48 and 1,000 megawatts respectively. As a result of these projects, India will be able to control 108,000 acre-feet of water from river Chenab.
The first session will be held on Wednesday and the second one on Thursday. Pakistan will raise the issue of Indian violation of Sindh Tass agreement and Pakistani experts visit to Kashmir during the talks.
In 2012, Pakistan objected over Pakal Dul’s design for violating the Sindh Taas Agreement. On the occasion, Pakistani officials demanded that the freeboard height should be reduced from seven-feet to two-feet and that the installation of the seal way gates should be done with an additional 40 metres in order to bring it to 1620 metres and align it with sea level.
Despite Pakistan repeatedly dissenting the storage of water in the dam and the provision of data in regards to its operation, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the projects in May.
Following this development, a statement issued by the Foreign Office said that despite several rounds of bilateral negotiations as well as mediation under the auspices of the World Bank, India continued with the construction of the project.
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