New Delhi:Â India has blamed Pakistan of “intransigence” on the implementation of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) and has issued a notice to it. The “notice of modification” was sent to Islamabad on January 25.
India and Pakistan signed the IWT in September 1960 after nine-year-long negotiations. The World Bank was a signatory of the pact. The IWT sets out a mechanism for cooperation and information exchange between the two countries regarding the use of waters of a number of rivers.
India has always been a steadfast supporter and a responsible partner in implementing the IWT in letter and spirit, said the sources aware of the developments. “However, Pakistan’s actions have adversely impinged on the provisions of IWT and their implementation, and forced India to issue an appropriate notice for modification of the pact,” said one of the sources.
Pakistan had in 2015 sought the appointment of a neutral expert to its technical objections to Kishenganga and Ratle Hydro Electric Projects in India. The very next year, Islamabad retracted the request and sought a court of arbitration to adjudicate its objections.
This unilateral action by Pakistan was in contravention of the graded mechanism of dispute settlement envisaged by Article IX of the IWT, the sources said. Accordingly, India made a separate request for the matter to be referred to a neutral expert.
“The initiation of two simultaneous processes on the same questions and the potential of their inconsistent or contradictory outcomes creates an unprecedented and legally untenable situation, which risks endangering the IWT itself,” the source said. “The World Bank acknowledged this itself in 2016, and took a decision to ‘pause’ the initiation of two parallel processes and request India and Pakistan to seek an amicable way out,” it said.
Pakistan hasn’t budged and despite repeated efforts by India to find a mutually agreeable way forward, it refused to discuss the issue during the five meetings of the Permanent Indus Commission from 2017 to 2022. At Pakistan’s continuing insistence, the World Bank had recently initiated actions on both the neutral expert and Court of Arbitration processes, the sources said. They added that such parallel consideration of the same issues is not covered under any provision of IWT. “Faced with such violation of IWT provisions, India has been compelled to issue notice of modification,” one of the sources said.
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