ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is pressing the World Bank to refer the Kishanganga Dam dispute with neighboring India to the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) after a failure to resolve the issue “amicably.”
“We want to take the matter to the ICA as a last resort for the interest of Pakistan. We are extremely disappointed over the World Bank’s discriminatory role in the dispute,” Syed Javed Ali Shah, the former federal Minister for Water Resources who negotiated extensively with the World Bank on the issue, told Arab News.
Pakistan and India signed Indus Waters Treaty, a water distribution agreement, with the help of World Bank in September 1960, following nine years of negotiations.
Pakistan approached the World Bank in 2010 when India started constructing the Kishanganga Dam, saying that its design violated the Indus Waters Treaty, which was brokered by the World Bank.
“We wanted the World Bank to exert pressure on India as guarantor of the treaty, but unfortunately the dispute is not resolved despite several rounds of dialogue,” said Shah.
The former minister said that Pakistan’s only option now is to go to the ICA. “India intends to run Pakistan dry, but its dream will never be fulfilled,” he said.
Shah also confirmed that a letter from World Bank urged Pakistan to withdraw its plea of referring the Kishanganga Dam dispute to the ICA and accept India’s offer of a “neutral expert.”
“Pakistan doesn’t want to set a precedent by accepting the offer of a neutral expert as this could later be used to settle all other water disputes with India,” he said.
The World Bank’s tribunal observed that India can use water of three western rivers, but it cannot divert water for the dams. Following the tribunal’s findings, India started constructing the dam. Pakistan approached the international financial institution again in July 2016 over the matter.
Dr. Pervaiz Amir, water expert and a former member of Prime Minister’s Task Force on Climate Change, warned Pakistan that taking the dispute to the ICA could “result in abolition of the Indus Waters Treaty that has survived conflicts and wars between the nuclear-armed states.”
He urged Pakistan to focus on constructing new dams to increase water storage and to raise its water disputes with India at international forums.
Amir said Pakistan stores around 7 percent its annual water flow while India has been storing 33 percent of its annual water flow.
“Pakistan has become a water-stressed country. If reservoirs are not built on emergency basis the country could run out of water by 2025,” he warned.
On Monday, when the Supreme Court scheduled the controversial Kalabagh Dam case hearing for June 9, the Chief Justice Saqib Nisar said: “Pakistan’s existence depends on water and I will do whatever is in my power to resolve the issue.”
This has, however, sparked a debate over the construction of Kalabagh Dam as three of Pakistan’s provinces — Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan — have already passed separate resolutions opposing the Kalabagh Dam.
A number of water experts and politicians from Punjab think that Kalabagh is the quick solution to address water shortage in the country due to its natural location for the reservoir.
Kalabagh Dam, which was first conceived in 1970, would have the capacity to generate 3,600 megawatts of electricity and enough water to cultivate seven million acres of currently barren land.
Pakistan to take Kishanganga Dam dispute to International Court of Arbitration
Pakistan to take Kishanganga Dam dispute to International Court of Arbitration
- Former Minister for Water Resources has said India wants to run Pakistan dry by building controversial water reservoirs
- Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar, has declared “water shortage” a top priority of the court
Ukraine toils to restore power and heat, Zelensky warns of new attack
- Russia has systematically attacked Ukraine’s energy system since it invaded its neighbor in 2022 and the air strikes have intensified in recent months
KYIV: Emergency crews toiled to restore heat and power to beleaguered Kyiv residents on Monday, more than three days after Russian strikes on energy targets, and President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that new air attacks could be imminent.
Officials said hundreds of apartment blocks in the capital remained without heat despite round-the-clock efforts by the crews. Humanitarian centers, dubbed “resilience points,” were open for people to keep warm and charge electronic devices.
Russia has systematically attacked Ukraine’s energy system since it invaded its neighbor in 2022 and the air strikes have intensified in recent months.
Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, said a program was being launched to raise wages and provide support for participants in emergency work brigades.
He issued a new warning to heed air raid alerts as night-time temperatures sank to minus 15 Celsius (5 F) or lower.
“There is intelligence information. The Russians are preparing a new massive strike,” he said.
“Drones to exhaust air defense systems and missiles. They want to take advantage of the cold. The strike may occur in the coming days. Please take care of yourselves. Protect Ukraine.”
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba, writing on Telegram, said 90 percent of Kyiv’s apartment buildings have had heating restored, leaving fewer than 500 dwellings still to be connected.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko put the number with no heating at 800, most on the west bank of the Dnipro River. He said a meeting of the Kyiv city council would be convened on Thursday to debate the most pressing issues facing residents.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, presenting the program for bonus payments, said the work conducted by emergency crews stood “at the very limit of human endurance, often involving life-threatening risks across the entire country.
“This applies to specialists who, in freezing conditions, go directly to the sites of strikes and restore supplies of heat, electricity, water and gas.”
Residents made their way to one of the humanitarian centers on the east bank of the river in the evening — two tents pitched on a small area of open ground.
They charged their devices and chatted, while outside, the din of whining generators filled the air.
“It’s dark in the apartment. I have an electric stove, so it’s impossible to heat up lunch or dinner, or make tea,” said Kateryna Zubko, 67, an engineer who has lived without power, heating and water since the latest attack.
“We support each other. Ukrainians are such resilient people, I think that this war will end someday, it can’t go on forever.”
