Indian and Pakistani negotiators ended another round of talks as a part of the Indus Water Treaty on “cordial” terms, said the Ministry of External Affairs, describing the 118th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission that took place in Delhi on May 30-31. The MEA did not give any details on the issues that were on the agenda for discussion, including Pakistan’s request for flood-flow data sharing and objections to hydropower projects planned on “western rivers” in Jammu & Kashmir. However, it said that the annual report of the Commission for the previous year had been finalised and signed, indicating some consensus on the way forward on a number of issues that come up each year. A statement from Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also added that India had assured a response to its objections.
“The meeting was held in a cordial manner. The Commission appreciated the commitment of the two sides to interact frequently and resolve issues through bilateral discussions under the Indus Water Treaty,” the MEA said after the meetings between six-member delegations on either side led by the new Indian Commissioner for Indus Waters A.K. Pal, and Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah, the Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters, adding that they had agreed to hold the next meeting in Pakistan at convenient dates. According to the Indus Water agreement, Commissioners meet twice each year, alternately in India and Pakistan, a practice that was put in abeyance between 2019-2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and scheduling issues.
The MEA’s statement comes in contrast to previous, more acrimonious statements issued by both India and Pakistan, which had detailed areas of dispute between the two sides. In March this year, after a meeting of the Commissioners held in Islamabad, Pakistan had raised objections to Indian hydro electric power (HEP) projects, including the Kiru, Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai HEPs in Jammu & Kashmir on the Chenab river. Pakistan has also asked India to reinstate the practice of providing it with advance flood flow information as per the treaty, which it says India stopped doing in 2018.
