A two-day meeting between Pakistan and India will begin here today (Monday) to discus water issues under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). A 10-member Indian delegation led by Indus Water Commissioner P.K. Saxena arrived in the country via Wagah border on Sunday for the meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) to discuss issues between the two countries under the framework of the IWT.
The Indus Water Comm-ission, which is mandated to meet at least once every year, alternately in Pakistan and India, comprises Indus Commissioners from both sides and discusses technical matters related to the implementation of the IWT.
India has fast-tracked the construction of hydropower projects worth 15 billion dollars in occupied Kashmir and is disrupting water flow to Pakistan. Sources said that Pakistan has been raising objections over designs of India''''s five hydroelectricity projects namely Pakal Dul (1000 MW), Ratle (850 MW), Kishanganga (330 MW), Miyar (120 MW) and Lower Kalnai (48 MW), for being built and planned on the Indus river basin, in violation of the IWT.
Pakistan had also approached the World Bank in August last year raising issues over Kishanganga and Ratle projects in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
However, there was no official word for the agenda of the two-day meeting between the two countries. The meeting was earlier scheduled to be held in Lahore but the venue was shifted to Islamabad. The meeting will therefore be held in Islamabad today (Monday).
Pakistan has been calling for a result-orientated dialogue with India on all outstanding issues but India suspended the talks in the wake of September 18, 2016 Uri attack.
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