Pakistan-India water talks begin tomorrow
islamabad — Pakistan and India will discuss the resolution of a dispute over sharing river waters this week, officials said, setting off the first official negotiations between South Asia’s nuclear-armed rivals since newly-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan took charge.
Both sides will discuss the issue over two days starting August 29 in Lahore, Indian and Pakistani officials said. The two nations will try to resolve differences over the construction of two dams by India on the Chenab, one of the six rivers shared by the two countries, and exchange river basin data, one of the officials said. Six rivers — Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum — have been a potential point of conflict between the neighbours despite a water-sharing treaty signed in 1960. India had in 2016 said it would review the treaty after 19 Indian soldiers were killed in disputed Kashmir region that is claimed by both sides. Pakistan has repeatedly raised issue with India’s plans to build dams on rivers. Yet annual talks have remained relatively unaffected in spite of two wars fought since the treaty was put in place.
Khan in his victory speech last month said Pakistan and India should resume peace talks. The last formal peace process started after India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif in Lahore in December 2015 but were called off after a series of terror attacks on Indian military bases.
“It’s a good subject to start building a relationship with the new Pakistan
government,” said Uttam Sinha, senior researcher at New Delhibased Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. “Water is an emotive issue for both sides and this is a unique treaty especially in this part of the world.”
In this week’s talks, India will defend its plans to develop hydropower
projects on the western rivers Indus, Chenab and Jhelum, over which Pakistan has more rights under the 1960 agreement, the Indian official said. The Indus Waters Treaty has allotted the waters of three eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — exclusively to India and the western rivers to Pakistan. —