On March 23-24, India and Pakistan will meet in Delhi to discuss the Indus water sharing issue. The annual event is being celebrated after a two-year break. India and Pakistani officials will talk about water sharing issues and address each other’s concerns.
Several hydropower projects in Ladakh have been approved by India, but Pakistan has objected. On Monday, around 10 a.m., a delegation of Pakistani officials will arrive in India.
Pakistan has announced that a delegation of water experts will travel to India to attend the Permanent Indus Commission meeting and discuss various water-related issues.
The Permanent Indus Commission’s 116th meeting will be held in New Delhi on March 23 and 24, according to Foreign Office spokeswoman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry.
“A number of issues under the treaty will be discussed, including our objections to the designs of the Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai hydroelectric plants, the provision of information on new Indian projects on the western rivers, and the provision of flood data by India,” he said.
Syed Muhammad Meher Ali Shah, Pakistan’s Commissioner for Indus Waters, will lead the delegation, and India’s Indus Commissioner PK Saxena, with his advisers from the Central Water Commission, Central Electricity Authority, and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, will lead the Indian delegation.
Both commissioners are obliged to meet at least once a year, alternately in India and Pakistan, under the terms of the Indus Water Treaty.
This will also be the first meeting between the two commissioners following the repeal of special provisions under Article 370 that granted Jammu and Kashmir special status. Ladakh and Jammu Kashmir were later created from the state.
What is the agreement of Indus Waters?
A treaty for the share of the Indus drainage system in 1960 was concluded between India and Pakistan. The Treaty was mediated by the World Bank and designated as a Convention on Indus Waters.
Under this Treaty, the six rivers of the Indian System were divided in a favorable way by Pakistan. Rivers with higher volumes of flowing water were allocated to Pakistan.
In India, three less voluminous eastern tributaries of the Indus were assigned to Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi waters. There ventured into Pakistan more large rivers, the Indus and its western affiliates, the Jhelum and Chenab.
Approx. 20 percent or approximately 3.3 crores of estimated 16.8-acre-feet of water was provided to India through the distribution of river waters. The complete proportion of Indus waters assigned to India has never been used entirely.
