India has repeatedly turned down Pakistan’s offer to restart talks stalled after the Mumbai terror strikes, but now it seems as though the Kishenganga project may bring the two neighbours to the talks table. On Thursday, India invited Pakistan for talks on the river water dispute.
The offer comes as a surprise, especially since home minister P Chidambaram had on Wednesday charged Pakistan of fuelling terrorism in Kashmir. But India’s desire to be accommodative has more to do with the threat of getting involved in lengthy World Bank arbitration than a sudden change of heart. Pakistan has warned it will make the matter to the World Bank if India goes ahead with its plans.
Islamabad has long protested the building of the Kishenganga power project in Jammu and Kashmir. Kishenganga is a tributary of the Jhelum. Pakistan says that the project would stall the flow of water to its territory and threatened to take it for a final resolution to a neutral adjudicator appointed by the World Bank, which is the guarantor of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty.
Indus Water Commissioner G Ranganathan has written to his Pakistani counterpart Syed Jamaat Ali Shah inviting him to discuss the issue. Ranganathan felt India and Pakistan should have one more go at resolving the issue bilaterally. Pakistan has not yet responded to the letter written a few weeks back when news of Pakistan approaching the World Bank was doing the rounds. But earlier rounds of talks on the project had failed to resolve the dispute.
Work on the 330 MW project started in 1994 but progress has been slow because of Pakistan’s protests. Ironically, Indian officials say that there is no contradiction over inviting Pakistani officials for talks on the issue, as “we have never stopped talking to Pakistan”. However, it is unlikely that Pakistan will agree to water talks.
