Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said on Tuesday that India was not cooperating with Pakistan in line with the Indus Water Treaty.

The minister expressed these views while addressing a seminar titled: ‘Indus Water Treaty (IWT): Issues and Recommendations’, organised by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI).

The foreign minister urged the World Bank, which had brokered the water-distribution between the two immediate neighbors back in 1960, to ensure the implementation on it by India.

He said water resources have assumed paramount significance in the wake of climate change in recent years. “It is in the interest of both the countries to honor the treaty,” he said, adding that Pakistan stood by the treaty but the neighbouring country not only disregarded Pakistan’s claim on water in line with the treaty, but also had backed down from its fundamental points.

He expressed serious concern over the designs of hydro power projects being built by India on Jhelum and Chenab rivers.

Earlier in March this year, a 10-member Indian delegation led by Indus Water Commissioner of India PP Saxena had held talks with the Pakistani delegation led by Indus Water Commissioner Mirza Asif Beg in Islamabad to discuss the projects being constructed by India on River Chenab.

Published in Daily Times, August 30^th 2017.