J&K: Pak Indus
Commission Team Undertakes Inspection
Jun 01, 2013 A team of Pakistan Indus Water
Commission made a quiet three-day visit to Jammu and
Kashmir to inspect the various projects being undertaken by India over Indus
basin rivers as part of an annual exercise. The team, led by Pakistan Indus
Commissioner Asif Baigh, inspected the Wullar barrage and later visited the 330
MW Kishenganga power project earlier this week. The Pakistani delegation today
left for their country. India
and Pakistan are engaged in
an international arbitration at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. While the
court has given a partial award favouring New
Delhi, its final order will be issued later this year.
The team, accompanied by Indian officials, also inspected the existing water
level in the river Jhelum.
The team from Indian
side is slated to visit Pakistan
in September this year, sources said. At the time of independence, the boundary
line between India and Pakistan was drawn right across the Indus Basin,
leaving Pakistan
as the lower riparian. A dispute arose between two countries regarding the
utilisation of irrigation water from existing facilities. Negotiations held by
by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank),
culminated in the signing of Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. The annual visits are
part of the provisions of the treaty. Out of the six rivers in the Indus basin,
India has exclusive rights
over the waters of the three major Eastern rivers -- Ravi, Beas and Sutlej
before they enter Pakistan,
while Pakistan has rights to
three large Western rivers that first flow through Jammu
and Kashmir -- Indus, Jhelum and Chenab.
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