The World Bank has “urged” India and Pakistan to agree to mediation on how to proceed in their dispute over two hydropower dam projects in Jammu and Kashmir. Replying to a strong statement from India that the World Bank, a signatory to the Indus Waters Treaty 1960, was favouring Pakistan by going ahead with an arbitration process, the Bank said it had gone ahead with both countries’ requests.
Conceding that a “draw of lots” was held to appoint three neutral umpires despite India’s objections, a senior World Bank official explained that the decision was a “procedural one”.
“The World Bank Group has a strictly procedural role under the Indus Waters Treaty and the treaty does not allow it to choose whether one procedure [India’s] should take precedence over the other [Pakistan’s]. This is why we drew the lots and proposed potential candidates for the Neutral Expert,” said Senior Vice-President and World Bank Group General Counsel Anne-Marie Leroy.
However Ms. Leroy admitted that two parallel processes were “unworkable” in the long run, and therefore mediation was required.
The dispute is over the Kishenganga (330 MW) and Ratle (850 MW) hydel plants India is constructing on the Kishenganga and Chenab rivers.
On Thursday, the MEA had issued a strong statement threatening to pull out of the World Bank’s arbitration process or even consider more stringent options over the Indus Waters Treaty, that had come under a cloud after the Uri attack in September.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had held a meeting a few days after the attack and another one last week to explore ways of “punishing” Pakistan by utilising its share of the Indus rivers more fully.
However, the meeting stopped short of recommending an abrogation of the treaty, which the World Bank statement called “one of the most successful international treaties that has withstood frequent tensions between India and Pakistan, including conflicts.”
With the 2003 ceasefire in a shambles and increasing shelling at the LoC and International Border, many officials fear the treaty could be the next casualty of India-Pakistan tensions.
