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| Pak opts for confrontation on Kishenganga issue | | |
Those who usually blame India for adopting rigid attitude while holding dialogue with Pakistan need to judge the strategy Islamabad has been adopting from time to time when the two sides pledge to promote cordial ties.See the Indian Foreign Secretary,Nirupama Rao,is visiting Islamabad next week to set the stage for the Foreign
Ministry level talks beginning from Juily15.And days before Rao's departure for Islamabad Pakistan has decided to take the Kishenganga hydel power project,whcih was being built in the Kashmir valley to the International Court for arbitration.The case has been taken to the International Court after Islamabad announced that India was violating the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 by constructing the 390 MW power project on river Jehlum.In fact the members of the Indus Water Commission of
India and Pakistan held another round of meeting in New Delh recently where the matter had been discussed threadbare.The Indian side had explained that construction of four new hydel power projects in Jammu and Kashmir,including Kishenganga and URI-II,did not violate the spirit of 1960 Indus Water Treaty.Earlier Pakistan Government stated that it wanted discussion,during the foreign secretary level talks,on all issues,including water,Kashmir and terrorism.And Delhi responded by saying that it was ready for discussion on all these issues.In reality the February last Foreign secretary level talks and the upcoming foreign ministry level talks were aimed at ensuring effective tackling of trust deficiency.At one stage Delhi made it clear that discussion on all issues could be possible only after the level of trust deficit,that exists between the two sides,was reduced.And in this context the two sides had plans of initiating added confidence building
measures.If Islamabad had stated that it wanted discussion on all ikssues,including water and Kashmir why did it take the Kishenganga power project issue to the International Court ? Why this extreme step when the Indus Water Commission members of India had conveyed to their counterpart that no hydel project,built or being built,violated the spirit of the Indus Water Treaty? The reasons are obvious.Islamabad is keen to extract more and more concessions from Delhi but India can ill afford to abandon construction of new power projects in Jammu and Kashmir where over one crore people have been faced with severe electricity crisis during the last over 30 years. Islamabad should have known it that foreign ministers of India and Pakistan enjoy more powers and authority than the members of the Indus Water Commission. As such Islamabad should have raised the Kishenganga issue in particular and the water issue in general during the upcoming foreign ministry
Level talks. Possibly Islamabad wanted to scare Delhi by threatening to take the Kishenganga project to the International Court. Good that Delhi neither succumbed to the blackmail tactics adopted by Islamabad nor agreed to change the project's design.That India accepted Pakistan's challenge is evident from the way Delhi appointed a couple of prominent legal experts to defend its case in the International Court Experts believe that by taking the hydel power project issue to the International Court Islamabad has, wittingly or unwittingly, opted for a course of confrontation than reconciliation. What is amazing is that on one hand voices in Islamabad blame India for blocking flow of river water into Pakistan on the other even some members of the Indus Water Commission in Pakistan and other experts have been holding mismanagement of water responsible for water crisis in the country.It is stated that inter-provincial feuds in Pakistan too has contributed to the mismanagement of water and hence there was no need for Pakistan to blame India for causing water shortage. Islamabad, before taking the Kishenganga issue to the International Court, should have learnt a lesson or two from its past experience when it knocked the doors of the World Bank while protesting against India's decision to construct 450 MW Baglihar power project.I ndia had won the case after it was told to slightly modify the design of the project. Islamabad does not seem to prepare to appreciate Delhi's magnanimity. It was Delhi which initiated foreign secretary level talks and now the foreign ministry level talks when Islamabad had not taken adequate steps against those involved in Mumbai mayhem. In fact Pakistan involvement in the Mumbai attack had resulted in the suspension of the composite dialogue.Time has come for Islamabad to display flexibility if it wants peace in the region.
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