Pakistan striving to rope in Afghanistan for water treaty

ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan is continuously trying to engage government of Afghanistan into dialogue for a possible water treaty in future or at least to develop mechanism for sharing of information between the countries.

In response to a question of Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini in the Upper House, the government told that the sharing of information between the two countries will include knowledge about the future impacts on the flows from Afghanistan but so far government of Afghanistan is non-responsive to the initiative by government of Pakistan.

The government of Afghanistan has reconstructed the hydro power projects destroyed during the war including Kama and some other hydroelectric plants, therefore, till to date there is no impact on the inflows in the common rivers with Afghanistan.

However, there are certain new projects in the pipeline as per information gathered from different sources. After the completion of the new projects there will be certainly some impact on the water inflows in the common rivers.

An Afghanistan Cell has been established in the office of Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Water which collects data through different sources and is monitoring inflows on the common rivers with Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Pakistan and Indian delegations are also holding two-day water talks in Lahore that culminates on Aug 30.

During talks, Pakistan will reiterate its serious reservations over construction of 1000-MW Pakal Dul and 48-MW Lower Kalnai hydroelectric projects on two different tributaries of River Chenab by India.