Kishanganga Dam dispute: Stand down, accept India’s offer, World Bank tells Pakistan

The World Bank has asked Pakistan to withdraw its stand on referring the Kishanganga Dam dispute to the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) and accept India’s proposal on appointing neutral experts to examine the issue. In a fresh communication to the Pakistan government, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim asked it to stand down from its stand on the matter, Pakistan daily The Dawn reported.

The Express Tribune reported that the office of the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) had on last Thursday received a letter in which the World Bank said that it is “ready to appoint a neutral expert if Islamabad agrees to give up its demand for establishing Court of Arbitration to hear the case”.

While Pakistan has been saying that the dam in Jammu and Kashmir, built by India, violates the Indus Waters Treaty between the neighbouring countries, New Delhi has described the issue as differences between both nations over the design of the dam. New Delhi has been arguing that it holds the right to set up a dam and hydropower plants on the tributaries of the Jhelum river and insisted that the matter can be easily resolved by appointing some neutral experts. Pakistan, however, is of the view that construction of the dam may affect the water level in its territory.

Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the 330 MW Kishanganga hydropower project on the Kishanganga river, a tributary of the Jhelum.