ISLAMABAD - In a significant development to ease tensions on water issues, India has agreed to allow Pakistan to inspect the two under-construction hydropower plants on the Indus River in the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir to allay IslamabadÂ’s concerns over their designs.
| A sign of progress, however small, but it will be undercut by the next infiltration of hard boyz into Kashmir. |
The agreement was reached at the two-day talks between Indus Water Commissioners of the two countries that concluded in Lahore on Friday. It indicated that bilateral talks under the Indus Water Treaty are making gradual progress, an official spokesman here observed.
During the periodic talks between the Indus Water Commissioners of the two countries in May Pakistan had demanded that its officials be allowed to visit the sites of Nimmo Bazgo and Chutak hydropower plants and both countries had agreed to discuss the matter in July. The visit is expected to take place next month.
The two sides also agreed to jointly inspect the flood embankments on the Ravi on both sides of the border. On the first day of the talks another significant gain was achieved when both sides agreed in principle to put in place a telemetry system on the western rivers to record and transfer real-time data.
The agreement was reached after the Indian delegates had conceded to the usefulness of the telemetry system in removing the confusion over water flows into Pakistan.
A Pakistani official who expressed some reservations registered by the Pakistani side conceded that there had been some progress in certain areas which would help bridge the trust gap on IndiaÂ’s water projects on three eastern rivers allocated to Pakistan under the 1960 treaty underwritten by
the World Bank. |