New Delhi: India raised questions on the World Bank’s decision to appoint a Court of Arbitration and a neutral expert under two separate processes to resolve differences between India and Pakistan over the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in Jammu and Kashmir.
“I do not think they (World Bank) are in a position to interpret the treaty for us. It is a treaty between our two countries and our assessment of the treaty is that there is a provision of graded approach,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, referring to the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).
Last week, India had sent a notice to Pakistan, calling for the modification of the IWT – “compelled” by Islamabad’s initiation of two parallel processes to iron out the creases between the neighbours on water sharing.
“India’s Indus Water Commissioner issued a notice on January 25 for the modification of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 to his Pakistani counterpart,” Bagchi said at a media briefing. “This notice was issued with the intent to provide an opportunity to Pakistan to enter into government-to-government negotiations to rectify ongoing material breach of the treaty.”
Bagchi added that he was not aware of any response yet from either Pakistan or the World Bank.
According to official sources in New Delhi, the notice was issued through respective commissioners (heading the Permanent Indus Commissions) on January 25 as per Article XII of the Treaty. The IWT was signed between the two neighbours in September 1960 to facilitate smooth distribution of water in the Indus Water System.
With the World Bank’s intervention, every year, a delegation from the respective commissions visits the countries alternately for an annual meeting to discuss cooperation on the Indus River System as prescribed in the Article VIII of the Treaty.
Sources had earlier told that the problem began with Pakistan’s “intransigence,” displayed in its seeking of two parallel processes to iron out differences. “In 2015, Pakistan requested for appointment of a neutral expert to examine its technical objections to India’s Kishenganga and Ralte Hydro Electric Projects. In 2016, Pakistan unilaterally retracted this request and proposed that a court of arbitration adjudicate on its objections.”
India, thereafter, made a separate request to the World Bank for the matter to be referred to a neutral expert. In 2016, the World Bank acknowledged “Pakistan’s initiation of two simultaneous processes on the same questions” and took a decision to “pause” it, requesting both the parties to seek an amicable way out of it.
Recently, however, the World Bank announced appointing a neutral expert and a chair of Court of Arbitration to resolve the differences over the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects. This broke a six-year deadlock.
India’s objection on the matter is that “such parallel consideration of the same issues is not covered under any provision of the IWT.”
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