Indus Water Treaty: Pakistani delegation inspects two power projects with independent experts in Jammu

The Pakistani delegation arrived here on Sunday evening as part of a meeting of neutral experts to inspect two hydroelectric projects in Jammu and Kashmir under the Indus Waters Treaty, officials said.

This will be the first visit by a Pakistani delegation to Jammu and Kashmir in more than five years under the dispute settlement mechanism of the 1960 treaty.

After nine years of negotiations, India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), of which the World Bank is also a signatory, which provides a mechanism for cooperation and information exchange between the two countries and governs water use across their many transboundary rivers.

A three-member Pakistani delegation last visited the Pakal Dal and Lower Kalnai hydroelectric projects under India’s Domestic Hydroelectric Power Act in January 2019, before relations between the two countries were frozen following the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.

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Officials said the visiting experts, including Pakistanis, will inspect the Kishenganga and Rattle hydroelectric projects in Chenab Valley during their stay in the Union Territory.

Pakistan first requested the World Bank in 2016 to have its objections to design features of the two hydropower projects resolved by “neutral experts”. However, Pakistan later withdrew the request and sought an arbitral tribunal ruling. India, on the other hand, maintained that the issue should only be resolved through a “neutral experts” process.

After negotiations failed, the World Bank appointed a neutral expert and the chair of the arbitral tribunal in October 2022. India had issued a notice of amendment to the treaty, warning that “such parallel consideration of the same issue is not contained in any provision of the Inland Fisheries Convention.”

In July 2023, the arbitral tribunal ruled that it “has the jurisdiction to consider and decide the dispute raised by Pakistan’s request for arbitration.”

Read also: What is the Indus Waters Treaty and why is India seeking its amendment?

Pakistan filed its first statement under this procedure in March this year, outlining its case in writing.

A month later, the Court paid a week-long visit to the Neelum-Jhelum Hydroelectric Plant in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to familiarise the Court with the general aspects of design and operation of run-of-river hydroelectric plants along the Indus River system.

India has refused to participate in the arbitral tribunal but has submitted a petition to a neutral expert in August 2023.

Pakistan participated in the second stakeholders meeting convened by neutral experts in Vienna in September last year to discuss matters related to the organization of the site visit.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has appointed 25 “liaison officers” to coordinate visits of neutral experts with Indian and Pakistani delegations.