20.2.13

Of the Indus Waters Treaty....


In a major victory, the International Court of Arbitration at The Hague has upheld India’s right to divert water from the Kishanganga hydro-electric project (KHEP) in Kashmir. The court rejected Pakistan’s contention that India was violating the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in the project in Gurez valley near Bandipura in north Kashmir.
Reacting to the development, MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said, “The award of the Court of Arbitration at The Hague reaffirmed validity of India’s position regarding Kishanganga hydroelectric project (KHEP) by allowing diversion of water from the KHEP as envisaged by India.”
He added, “It highlights once again that India is adhering to all the provisions of Indus Waters Treaty.” The judgment was received at The Hague by Indian ambassador Bhaswati Mukherjee and Pakistan’s envoy Fauzia Mazhar Sana.
Pakistan has alleged that India’s diversion of water was depriving its river Neelum of water. India has maintained that since Kishanganga is a run-of-the-river project, the diverted water was always returned to the river.
The water is diverted to a power plant in the Jhelum basin. In November 2009, Pakistan had proposed the establishment of a Court of Arbitration and the appointment of a neutral expert to resolve the Kishanganga dam dispute. This was set up in 2010.
The Court of Arbitration directed that while India had the right to divert water for the power project, it stopped India from using a technique called drawdown — of flushing for clearing the sedimentation of the project that had been designed and asked it to adopt a different technique for generation of 330 mw of power.
India says this is a modern technique to remove sedimentation, but Pakistan has argued against this. The court upheld the Pakistani position on this issue. India was allowed by the neutral expert in the Baglihar project to use modern technologies like flushing to remove sedimentation.
In June 2011, members from the Court of Arbitration visited India as well as Pakistan for inspection of the site. Under the Indus Waters Treaty, India is allowed the use of eastern rivers in the Indus system and can only use the western rivers for non-consumptive use or for power projects.

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