Pak team leaves for India to hold talks on water issues

LAHORE: An eight-member delegation of Pakistan's Indus Waters Commission left for India on Monday through the Wagah border to take part in a two-day meeting on lingering water issues, which is being held after a gap of about two-and-a-half years.

Reports said the India-Pakistan water talks are being resumed following a thaw in relations earlier this month with announcement of complete ceasefire at the Line of Control (LoC), a dividing line between disputed Jammu & Kashmir regions. The Pakistani delegation is led by Indus Waters Commissioner, Syed Mehr Ali Shah, which would hold talks with the Indian delegation in New Delhi on March 23 and 24. Talking about the possible meeting on water issues, Mehr Ali Shah said the controversial hydropower projects on the Chenab River would be discussed with India. The Chenab River is among three western rivers whose water rights are exclusively given to Pakistan, out of six rivers jointly shared by the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

The Pakistan’s water commissioner said the controversial projects being planned or built by India, included Pakal Dal, Lower Kalnai, Darbak and Nemo Chaling. The Indian side would be led by P. K. Saxena to review various objections being raised by Pakistan under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. The construction of controversial Pakal Dul Dam is currently under way on a tributary of the River Chenab by the Indian authorities in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir. Among others, the Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai projects would hurt the flow of water downstream towards Pakistan.