ISLAMABAD: The Government of Punjab is likely to boycott the meeting on Water Apportionment Accord 1991, convened by the Attorney General Pakistan (AGP) on Tuesday (today), well informed sources told Business Recorder.

On September 24, 2020, Attorney General for Pakistan, in a letter, invited the four Chief Ministers, Minister and Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, and Chairman IRSA to attend a meeting with reference to the decision taken by Council of Common Interests (CCI) in its 42nd meeting held on August 6, 2020.

Responding to the AG letter, Indus Director Water Treaty & Regulation, Irrigation Department, Punjab, Agha Ehsan Ullah submitted the following:

In its 41st meeting held on December 23, 2019, the CCI formed a committee comprising relevant technical experts of Federal and Provincial Governments, the Attorney General of Pakistan and respective Advocate Generals to discuss fair distribution of water amongst the provinces. Accordingly, after obtaining nominations from the provinces, Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination, constituted this committee through their notification on July 29, 2020. Later, on the objection of Sindh, the CCI in its 42nd meeting decided to reconstitute the committee to allow equal representation from all the provinces.

He further stated that in light of the CCI decision, the Government of the Punjab maintained that the meeting notice is not in accordance with the decision of the CCI as no Chief Minister, or for that matter Minister and Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources and Chairman IRSA can be members of the committee.

"It needs to be understood that the spirit of the CCI decision is that the matter of distribution of water shall be examined purely on legal and technical grounds. Involvement of Chief Ministers and others in this matter at this stage would only lead to politicization of issues which have been settled after a very long debate," Agha added.

Indus Director Water Treaty & Regulation, Irrigation Department, Punjab, in his letter conveyed that he was directed to request Attorney General Office to withdraw the meeting notice and reschedule the meeting only after the committee is reconstituted by the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination, in light of decisions of 42nd meeting of the CCI.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020