By IANS,
New Delhi/Islamabad : A fresh dispute is brewing between India and Pakistan over the issue of reduced water flow in the Chenab river as Islamabad Wednesday threatened to seek the World Bank’s intervention on the plea that New Delhi had not responded to its “repeated complaints” on the issue.
India on its part argued that Pakistan had started to complain even before the agreed schedule between the two sides for filling up the low water level on the Chenab could begin.
“Pakistan knows it very well that the water level of the Chenab falls during the month of September. This is not a recent occurrence but has been happening for many, many years,” an Indian government official told IANS.
He added: “Pakistan’s problem is not with the water level on the Chenab, but it is part of its frustration over the Baglihar dam, the construction of which it could not stop despite seeking the intervention of the World Bank.”
The World Bank is the mediator and signatory of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan.
In 2005 Pakistan had sought the World Bank’s intervention to stop construction of the Baglihar dam and hydro-electricity power project that India had been constructing on the Chenab in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir.
An expert appointed by the World Bank had allowed India to go ahead with the project after a few minor modifications.
Jamat Ali Shah, Pakistan’s commissioner on the Indus Water Treaty, said the shortage of water in the Chenab river occurred due to filling up the Baglihar dam at the initial stages. He alleged that despite repeated pleas from Pakistan, India did nothing to address the problem.
“We have demanded the Indian commissioner for a visit of the site and a detailed report regarding the filling of the dam. Yet the Indian commissioner has not given any positive response yet,” he said in an interview with BBC radio.
He said they would again seek the World Bank intervention if no resolution was found.
“Regarding the issue we will demand an equal distribution of water from India and if it is not possible then India will have to pay for our loss,” Shah said.
“And if India does not fulfil our demands then any commissioner of the Treaty has the right to put the matter to any impartial expert.”
He also added that Pakistan had demanded that India call for an emergency session as per the Indus Water Treaty and India had promised to hold a session in New Delhi. But no communication on this has yet been made by India.
The 1960 river treaty between the two countries provides India exclusive control of three eastern rivers, while it provides Pakistan similar control on three western rivers, including the Chenab river.
According to Shah, Pakistan has also demanded establishment of a Joint Observation Team to oversee the concerns but India has not yet responded to it.
Though the World Bank had addressed some of the objections Pakistan had about the Baglihar dam, the government in Islamabad still complains that the post-completion ramifications of the project are affecting the country’s irrigation system.