Wullar Barrage talks open today

28 Jun, 2005

Indo-Pak Secretary-level talks will begin here on June 28 on the Wullar Barrage in Indian Held Kashmir (IHK), one of the eight issues covered under composite dialogue process between the two countries. The Indian side will be headed by Water Resources Secretary, J Harinarayan, while Pakistan's Secretary for Water and Power Ashfaq Mehmood will lead the Pakistan delegation, which arrived here on June 27.
The talks on the issue of Wullar Barrage, earlier scheduled for June 24 to 25, were postponed for June 28 to 29 due to some logistic reasons, informed sources said.
The Water Secretary-level talks would be the 11th round of such parleys since 1988 after the dispute arose over the project, situated in the IHK, added the sources.
Work to construct barrage in Wullar Lake in Baramulla district of the IHK had begun in 1984 but it was halted later, after Pakistan raised objections describing it as a violation of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty. The seven-member Pakistan's delegation headed by Secretary Water and Power comprises of Indus Waters Commissioner Syed Jamaat Ali Shah; Director General, South, division, Foreign Ministry, Jalil Abbas Jilani and experts from the Pakistan Indus Waters Commission and Law Division.

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