Pak moves International Court of Arbitration to resolve Kishanganga dispute with India

Islamabad, Oct 9 (ANI): Pakistan has instituted proceedings in the International Court of Arbitration to resolve the Kishanganga Dam dispute with India, a Pakistani federal minister has stated.

Minister for Water and Power, Raja Pervez Ashraf, made this statement in the National Assembly, adding that the court was likely to take up the matter soon, the Daily Times reported.

He acknowledged that India had addressed Pakistan's concerns on a parapet of Nimoo Bazgo Hydroelectric Plant on the Indus River, but those relating to pondage, spillway and power-intake were yet to be resolved.

Issues involving construction of the Uri-II Hydroelectric Plant by India on the Jhelum River, and the Chutak Hydroelectric plant on a tributary of the Indus River, had also been resolved by the Permanent Indus Commission, he said.

Pakistan has been objecting to the construction of the Kishanganga hydropower project on the Ganga River in Kashmir, which is called the Neelum upon entering Pakistan.

In November last year, Pakistan had proposed both the establishment of a court of arbitration and the appointment of neutral experts to resolve the Kishanganga Dam dispute with India as soon as possible.

"The establishment of a court for arbitration and the appointment of neutral experts would be proposed to India, as New Delhi had failed to satisfy Pakistan in matters related to the dispute during negotiations between the Indus water commissioners of the two countries," Pakistan Indus Water Commissioner Syed Jamaat Ali Shah had said.

The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), inked between India and Pakistan in 1960, provides appointment of a neutral expert by the World Bank as a last option to resolve water related issues between both the countries. (ANI)