India-Pakistan hold talks on Indus water sharing after over 2 yrs

India and Pakistan return to the dialogue table with the annual meeting of Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) beginning in New Delhi on Tuesday, 23 March. The two-day meet is being held after a gap of more than two and a half years — following the Pulwama attack, Balakot airstrike, and revocation of the special status of J&K and splitting it into two UTs. The last meeting took place in Lahore in August 2018.

Commissioner (Indus) Pradeep Kumar Saxena will lead the Indian delegation, while the Pakistani side will be led by Syed Muhammad Meher Ali Shah, the country’s Commissioner for Indus Waters.

The meet also comes less than a month after the two countries agreed to "strict observance of all agreements, understanding and ceasefire along the Line of Control and all other sectors."

As per the the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, all the water from the eastern rivers – Sutlej, Beas, and the Ravi – amounting to around 33 million acre feet (MAF) annually – is for India to use. Water from western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab), amounting to around 135 MAF annually, largely goes to Pakistan.

Under the treaty, India has the right to generate hydroelectricity through a run of the river projects while Pakistan the right to raise concerns on the design of the former's hydroelectric projects on western rivers.

In July 2020, India had proposed to Pakistan that the meeting for discussing pending issues pertaining to Indus Water Treaty (IWT) be held virtually in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, but Pakistan insisted on holding talks at the Attari check post. India didn't agreed to this.

Source: theprint.in, thequint.com

Written by Siddhant Sharma