Pakistan, India talks on water issues conclude

The 117th meeting of the India-Pakistan Permanent Indus Commission concluded in Islamabad and discussed the entire gamet of water related issues between the two sides.

The Indian delegation comprising ten members was headed by the Indian Commissioner for Indus Waters P. K. Saxena, while Pakistan's delegation was led by Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters, Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah.

Pakistan reiterated its observations on the Kiru Hydroelectric project located upstream river Chenab and India's new run-of-the-river small HEPs on Western rivers.

Response to Pakistan's objections to Indian projects including Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai was also sought.

Both sides reiterated their committment to implement the Indus Water Treaty in its true spirit.

During the talks Pakistan asked India to restore sharing of the flood data based on humanitarian grounds, which New Delhi continued to share from 1989 till 2018 and then started reducing the share of data with Pakistan in 2019.

Both sides discussed the sharing of flood data, program of meetings and tours of PICW for the current calendar year 2022.  

In recent years due to widening of the supply-demand gap of water in India and Pakistan, there has been a rise in water nationalism which is further fuelled by the increasing tensions between both countries. 

As a document, the treaty may have certain weaknesses, but the larger problem is the fraught relationship between India and Pakistan. 

A little over 60 years ago, on September 19, 1960, the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) was signed between India and Pakistan to share waters from the Indus rivers system (IRS).