India to attend Indus Water Treaty meet in Lahore: reports

LAHORE: India is likely to participate in the meeting of Permanent Indus Commission, scheduled to be held in Lahore in March, reports in the Indian media said.

According to media reports, Pakistan had forwarded the invitation to India to resolve the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).

India and Pakistan will sit across the table to address issues in their meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission – a bilateral commission of officials from India and Pakistan, created to implement and manage goals of the Indus Waters Treaty.

Pakistan has made it clear it will not accept any alterations or changes to the treaty after India had said that it is ready to engage in further consultations with Islamabad on the matter of resolving current differences over the Kishenganga and Ratle power projects, reports the Indian Express.

Islamabad believes that India is buying time to complete its two disputed water projects and then insisting that since the project was already complete, it could not be modified.

Pakistan has raised objections to building of the Kishanganga (330 megawatts) and Ratle (850 megawatts) hydroelectric plants by India saying that it violates the provisions of the treaty.

Tensions increased over the water dispute when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month threatened to block the flow of water into Pakistan.

World Bank had earlier asked both the countries to consider alternative ways to resolve their disagreements over the Indus Water Treaty 1960.

The World Bank had said that it was temporarily halting the appointment of a neutral expert as requested by India, and the Chairman of the Court of Arbitration, as requested by Pakistan, to resolve issues regarding two hydroelectric power plants under construction by India along the Indus Rivers system.

The treaty which was signed in 1960 by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan President Ayub Khan gives India control over the three eastern rivers of the Indus basin, the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej, while Pakistan has the three western rivers, the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum.