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LAHORE: Pakistan expressed serious concerns on Sunday over construction of Kishanganga Dam and termed it a clear violation by India of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).
It also said that four other proposed dams on the Chenab would be in violation of the treaty.
According to officials, the objections were raised by the Pakistani IWT commissioner during the first round of a meeting with his Indian counterpart who had arrived here to discuss disputes between the two countries.
Also read: Legal case for dams
Pakistani authorities raised objections to the diversion of Chenab water by India by constructing hydropower projects, including the 690MW Ratli Dam, 1,000MW Pikkal Dam, 1,190MW Karthai Dam and 600MW Kero Dam and said this was a violation of the treaty, the officials said.
“Pakistan has also raised objections over design of the Kishanganga Dam that may reduce the required water discharges to Pakistan. And it will be a clear violation of the IWT,” an official said.
He said the authorities had urged Indian IWT officials to change the dam’s design. The officials from the two countries would discuss all issues in detail during the next round in order to resolve them amicably, he said.
Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2014
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Comments (45) Closed
Aug 25, 2014 07:02am
Are they gonna accept this violation ? arrogant nations.
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Aug 25, 2014 07:12am
I think, Pakistani media and establishment are preparing the ground for army coup. Skirmishes on LoC, now IWT accusation.
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Aug 25, 2014 07:22am
Indus Water Treaty (IWT) now become 50 years old. India and Pakistan should reconsider the IWT.
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Aug 25, 2014 07:29am
India is stealing Pakistani waters for a long time. But its unfortunate that we don't have competent people who would take necessary action in timely manner. It is unfortunate that we have not built the Kalabagh Dam where millions of gallons of water goes into sea without any use. We have politicize our own Dams and development projects. I would say any political party who opposes Kalabagh Dam is not patriotic. I urge Pakistanis to join hands and send messages in writing to their MNA's and MPA to build the dams.
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Aug 25, 2014 07:39am
You can go to international courts and will lose the case again and again as before
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Aug 25, 2014 07:50am
India has been extremely patient in bearing the cross-border violations for many a decades. Time has come for India to strike where it hurts Pakistan.
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Aug 25, 2014 08:01am
Keep shooting across the border and pakistan will go dry :)
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Aug 25, 2014 08:27am
What's new? India will look after its people and make dams and increase power generation capability. Pakistan will keep complaining and loose cases at ICA,Hague while 18-20 hr power cuts become the norm in pakistan. Then they will come begging to buy electricity from India.Enough already.
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Aug 25, 2014 08:27am
Pakistan has been raising numerous objections and the international tribunal has trashed all those objections. Looks like another ploy to raise anti-India sentiments.
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Aug 25, 2014 08:31am
Come on, guys ! Why can't we learn to live together ? Bury the left over of colonialism. Colonial masters are gone. Now we make our destiny. Stop playing their game nearly 64 years after their ouster.
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Aug 25, 2014 08:32am
This is a very serious matter and must be taken up in our NSC (National Security Council) as without water there would be no agriculture and it would be droughts in already water starved Pakistan.
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Aug 25, 2014 08:40am
Why does Nawaz not go the World Bank now that too late like last time. He obviously cares more for having trade with India to benefit his family business that guarding Pakistan's national interest.
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Aug 25, 2014 08:44am
Nothing will happen since no politicians will take interest in it.
The original person who represented Pakistan in the treaty is now sitting in Canada as a reward for his 'loyalty' to the other side.
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Aug 25, 2014 08:44am
Attack Pakistan enough is enough
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Aug 25, 2014 08:48am
Yes we will violate the treaty. We have no obligation to keep the treaty.
What are you going to do about it ?
Kya kar loge ? Hein !
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Aug 25, 2014 08:56am
Very good .... Pakistan can now approach for arbitration to solve the issue earlier.
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Aug 25, 2014 09:02am
Expected reactions - Cease fire violations and now, accusations of water diversion - for cancelling the secretary level talks !!!
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Aug 25, 2014 09:07am
If this is true, why is international courts not finding India at fault. Do not simply create noise for developmental work in India's territory
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Aug 25, 2014 09:11am
DAWN, I'm surprised you did not inform your readers about what happened at International court when Pakistan objected to Kishanganga Dam. Thank you !
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Aug 25, 2014 09:37am
Keep crying,no one listen you.
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Aug 25, 2014 09:39am
Pakistan has raised objections to any dam construction in the past and they all have been quashed by arbitrators. Let us see where this round of complaints go
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Aug 25, 2014 09:40am
Scrap this treaty, Modiji.
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Aug 25, 2014 10:01am
We as a Pakistani do nothing but talk instead of practical moves. Whenever there is some move on KB Dam, political interests of some well knit families, like ANP leadership, Some Sindhi Waderas come in the way.
The IWT people like Jamaat Ali Shah are a commodity for sale. He is now as far my limited knowledge is concerned is sitting abroad and enjoying the unholy earnings he made for not properly contesting our case with India, jack the ripper.
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Aug 25, 2014 10:04am
Aggressive rhetoric would lead to nowhere. Can we have some raw facts please?
Imagine a dam with one input and one output, how can you use that to steal water. Can a dam store water forever and not collapse if it does not release the water? Treaty says water could be collected temporarily for the purpose of electricity. Is it not good for the poor people on the other side of the border? You call power crisis in Pakistan a crisis, cross over to this side and you will see true crisis. For all massive projects since history, there would always be risks and issues. Engineers are paid to find and fix them. Trust your engineers but do not colour their observations into Indo-pak thing.
And has anyone appreciated that these dams sometime could be beneficial to people downstream by stopping floods during monsoon and gradual release of water later.
Come on people. This treaty probably is the only thing going right (including independent foreign monitoring) between the two nations.
Hope common sense prevails.
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Aug 25, 2014 10:46am
If the Indians don't listen, then we should take this to an international commission.
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Aug 25, 2014 11:02am
This is India's honesty that we have not added any poison Chemical or sewage in these rivers. Pakistan should say thanks to India that we send them pure and clean rivers.
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Aug 25, 2014 11:24am
I, as an educated Pakistani, would like to see proof of the allegations. Technical drawings, photos etc. Every few years this issue is raised and I don't see any thing happening. Is India really violating the IWT or we have incompetent engineers politically appointed who makes these claims ? If there is really truth to it then this is an act of war by India.
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Aug 25, 2014 11:46am
When will Pakistan stop playing victim card for everything? When will it actually develop something really good for the citizens? Build world's best universities, hospitals , schools, airports, tech hubs...so far it has only managed to be best terror base in the world. Hopefully after the current operation against militants, it can focus on actual development work . Cheers.
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Aug 25, 2014 11:52am
Our town in Gujrat (established on lands grated by Emperor Akbar in the 16th century) is situated right next to a river (a contributary to Chenab). This river has been dry for two generations after the Indians diverted her waters away. This affected the way of life, fisheries, vegitation, agriculture and the general environment which had been in placed for milennia. What is left is a river of dry sand and stories of a bygone era.
Conclustion: once the river water is diverted the same things will happen, only on a much larger scale. This the Pakistani people can not afford. Hence Pakistan must use everything in her power to stop this from happening - everything!
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Aug 25, 2014 11:53am
Dams are not built in 1 day or airdropped over night. Our government turns blind eye when such plans are being carried out. It is our mistake that we dont stop India.
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Aug 25, 2014 12:33pm
How can N.S. negotiate, he has so much baggage from past on his head, and now Imran Khan and Quadri a Canadian coming and bringing his agenda. from past 2 weeks I.K. and Quadri has taken nation hostile yet Nawaz and his delegation goes to negotiations asking Huriyat to meet them in New Delhi. Are Indian blind they know he is weak and his days are numbered. India is taking and gaining time by delaying the meeting once the dams are erected by the Indian, under IMF supervision then no go way back. So lets think and join India rather fighting them.
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Aug 25, 2014 01:03pm
Pakistan should go to the international courts.
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Aug 25, 2014 01:40pm
Pakistan already lost Kishen Ganga case in ICJ and its favour has already gone in favour of India,pakistan cant do anything on that.
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Aug 25, 2014 04:13pm
@Moiz Omar Pakistan has done this many times and lost all the time.
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Aug 25, 2014 04:45pm
@Pune-MH: That's true but the Indians are not trustworthy. They steal the electricity part out of the water before releasing it into Pakistan. That is cheating, is it not? Our engineers have verified this.
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Aug 25, 2014 05:43pm
@Abdul haha Funny comment... or are you serious? Stealing electricity from water??? reminds me of a scene of one bollywood movie.
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Aug 25, 2014 10:07pm
@Moiz Omar But these International Commissions are only interested in getting their commission (10%?), no?
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Aug 26, 2014 12:55pm
@Kumar
If you cut a considerably high amount of our water supply, and the international commission does not do anything about it, we reserve the right to take other possible actions against it.
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Aug 26, 2014 11:39pm
@arsh Because we are weak, why are we weak? Because we vote based on caste and language, because we dont appreciate merit, because we dont follow laws, because we have a very poor standard of education, because we are not hard workers.
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Aug 26, 2014 11:42pm
@Faisal This time you will not face the Pakistani Army.... you will also face the Pakistani people, every second Pakistani from Khyber to Karachi knows how to use an AK47
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Aug 26, 2014 11:47pm
@Desi lad I appreciate your sentiments, however what you fail to realize is that right now the equation +1 -1 however what happens in times of drought, low rainfall and snowfall when it is +0.7, in order to retain generation capacity India would need to store water to fill up the reservoir.
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Aug 27, 2014 02:16am
Come now Indians , everyone knows India bullies almost all her neighboring states with water terrorism. So please go elsewhere with your downright absurd claims regarding Pakistan's objections to the design of Kishenganga being baseless.
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Aug 27, 2014 11:24am
@Rizwan bro if we arrogant your country would be dried by now. Indus treaty is a favour not an obligation.so thank india.
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Aug 28, 2014 02:29pm
Pakistan is became Impossible. Pakistani govt doesnt do anything for their people and sit idol. Instead they engage themselves in blaming other countries for their miserable condition. Others are doing their job for prosperity of their people. If you are so concern about the water , why were you busy in increasing the number of terrorists in your country , instead of building dam and electricity projects.
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Aug 28, 2014 02:43pm
@allaisa Sorry but his name is not Zardari, so your info is incorrect.
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