Months after India issued a notice to Pakistan for modification of the Indus Waters Treaty of September 1960, Islamabad has sent a carefully-worded response indicating it is ready to listen to New Delhi’s concerns.
India had sent the notice on January 25 this year through respective commissioners for Indus waters following Islamabad’s “intransigence” on its implementation.
India had sought modifications in the treaty two days before the hearing of the Court of Arbitration in The Hague on January 27-28. India had extended the notice by invoking Article 12 of the Indus Waters Treaty.
Sources said Islamabad has now sent its response in calculated and careful words, saying it is ready to listen to New Delhi’s concerns about the treaty at the level of the Permanent Commission of Indus Waters (PCIW).
Officials said Pakistan is a lower riparian country, while India is upper riparian and the lower riparian country couldn’t flout the Indus Waters Treaty’s provisions or commit any material breach.
Under Article 12 of the treaty, the existing treaty will continue to reign unless the parties to the dispute — Pakistan and India — bilaterally introduce changes to the pact.
India and Pakistan signed the treaty in 1960 after nine years of negotiations, with the World Bank being a signatory of the pact. The treaty sets out a mechanism for cooperation and information exchange between the two countries regarding use of waters of a number of rivers.
In 2015, Pakistan requested for appointment of a neutral expert to examine its technical objections to India’s Kishenganga and Ratle Hydro Electric Projects (HEPs). In 2016, Pakistan unilaterally retracted this request and proposed that a Court of Arbitration adjudicate on its objections.
Official say that despite repeated efforts by India to find a mutually agreeable way forward, Pakistan refused to discuss the issue during the five meetings of the Permanent Indus Commission from 2017 to 2022 At Pakistan’s continuing insistence, the World Bank has recently initiated actions on both the neutral expert and Court of Arbitration processes.
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment