India suggests video conference, Pakistan wants meeting at Attari

NEWDELHI: India has suggested to Pakistan that the talks for discussing pending issues under the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) be held through videoconferencing in view of the Covid-19 outbreak, but Islamabad has been insisting that the parleys be conducted at the Attari check post, sources said on Sunday.

On Pakistan’s request, a meeting was scheduled in the last week of March to discuss pending issues under the Indus Water Treaty. However, it was deferred due to current pandemic.

Currently, one of the pending issues between the two sides is the disagreement over the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectricity projects. The Kishenganga project had been in operation since 2018 while work on Ratle stands abandoned since 2014 due to a contractual dispute between the Jammu and Kashmir government and the contractor.

After prolonged negotiations, India in 2016 sought appointment of a neutral expert to resolve this issue while Pakistan made a request for appointment of a Court of Arbitration (COA).