Pak would not budge an inch from ‘principled’ stance on water issue with India: Shah

LAHORE - Pakistan Indus Water Commissioner Syed Jamat Ali Shah has said that Islamabad would not budge an inch from its ‘principled’ stance on the issue of river water sharing with India.

Shah said he would raise the water issue with full force during the upcoming talks with his Indian counterpart, who is due to visit Pakistan later this month to hold talks on water sharing issues in the light of the 1960 Indus Basin Treaty.

“We are urging India to share its water data with us so that there is no confusion,” The Daily Times quoted Shah, as saying.

He said the date of the meeting between Water Commissions of both countries would be announced in a couple of days.

Pakistan has been blaming India for an unsporting attitude during bilateral talks, which were initiated to resolve the impending water dispute.

It has also been opposing the construction of the Kishanganga hydropower project on the Ganga River in Kashmir, which is called Neelum upon entering Pakistan.

Pakistan has said that the diversion of the waters of the Neelum is not allowed under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, and it will face a 27 per cent water deficit, when the project gets completed.

The reduced water flow in the Neelum would not yield the required results of the proposed 1.6 billion dollars Neelum-Jehlum hydropower project that has been designed to generate 969 MW of electricity.

It has said that India has almost completed a 22-kilometre long tunnel to divert Kishanganga waters to Wullar Lake in Jammu and Kashmir. (ANI)