Pakistan objects to Indian hydroelectric projects at annual Indus Commission meeting

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan objected to India’s hydroelectric projects on Chenab and other western rivers during the India-Pakistan Permanent Indus Commission meeting that concluded in Islamabad on Thursday, said the foreign office in a statement.
The annual meeting between the two countries alternatively takes place in Pakistan and India under the relevant provisions of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).
India has embarked on ambitious irrigation plans and construction of many upstream dams in recent years, though it says its use of water is strictly in line with the treaty signed between the two countries in 1960.
Pakistan has opposed some of these projects since it maintains they violate the World Bank-mediated agreement on the sharing of Indus waters, noting that 80 percent of Pakistani agriculture depends on it.
“The entire gamut of water-related issues between Pakistan and India were discussed in the meeting,” the foreign office said after the conclusion of the three-day meeting. “Pakistan reiterated its observations on the Kiru Hydroelectric project (HEP) located upstream river Chenab and India’s new run-of-the-river small HEPs on Western rivers.”
The statement added the Indian side was also urged to communicate advance flood-flow information as per the provisions of the treaty since the practice had remained in vogue between the two countries between 1989 and 2018.
Under the IWT, India has been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through run-of-the-river projects on the western rivers, though it subject to specific criteria related to design and operation.
The pact has also given the right to Pakistan to raise objections to the designs of Indian hydroelectric projects on the western rivers which has been done by Islamabad in recent years.
The two neighboring countries witnessed soaring tensions over water rights of the rivers flowing between them soon after their independence in August 1947.
Since the ratification of the treaty after nine years of negotiations, both neighbors decided to stay away from water wars despite full-scale military conflicts between them.
“Both sides reiterated their commitment to implement the Indus Waters Treaty in its true spirit and expressed the hope that the next meeting of the Commission would be held at an early date in India,” the foreign office added.