“A former chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority wrote in an article “No armies with bombs

and shell fire could divested a land so thoroughly as Pakistan could be devastated by the simple
expedient of India’s permanently shutting up the source of water that keep the field and the people of
Pakistan green”

 The Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960 after nine years of negotiations
between India and Pakistan with the help of the World Bank, which is also a
signatory.
 The Indus Waters Treaty is a water-sharing arrangement signed by then Indian
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and then President of Pakistan Ayub Khan on
September 19, 1960, in Karachi. It covers the water distribution and sharing rights
of six rivers -- Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum.
 The dispute is over the construction of two hydroelectric plants on the
Kishanganga (330MW) and Ratle (850MW) tributaries of the Jhelum and Chenab
rivers.
 Pakistan believes the construction violates the Indus Waters Treaty, which gives
Islamabad unrestricted use of the waters of the two western rivers in the Indus
system.
 Kishanganga Project, for example, The 330 MW Hydroelectric project is located
about 160 kilometers upstream of Muzaffarabad and involves diversion of
Kishanganga or Neelum River, as is known in Pakistan, to a tributary, Bunar
Madumati Nullah of the River Jhelum through a 22-kilomtre tunnel. Pakistani
objections are based on the grounds that the project will have adverse effects on
the Neelam-Jhelum. It is feared that the project could reduce Pakistan’s total water
availability from an estimated 154 maf to about 140 maf, a shortage of about 8-9
per cent.
 The Treaty also sets forth distinct procedures to handle issues which may arise:
“questions” are handled by the Commission; “differences” are to be resolved by a
Neutral Expert; and “disputes” are to be referred to a seven-member arbitral
tribunal called the “Court of Arbitration.”
 India and Pakistan disagree about the construction of the Kishenganga (330
megawatts) and Ratle (850 megawatts) hydroelectric power plants being built by
India (the World Bank is not financing either project). The two countries disagree
over whether the technical design features of the two hydroelectric plants
contravene the Treaty. The plants are on respectively a tributary of the Jhelum and
the Chenab Rivers. The Treaty designates these two rivers as well as the Indus as
the “Western Rivers” to which Pakistan has unrestricted use
 Pakistan had raised objections to India’s plans at the Permanent Indus
Commission more than a decade ago. When the objections were not addressed,
Islamabad approached the World Bank on August 19, 2016 for the court of
arbitration as provided in the Indus Waters Treaty.
 Pakistan asked the World Bank to facilitate the setting up of a Court of Arbitration
to look into its concerns about the designs of the two hydroelectric power projects.
India asked for the appointment of a Neutral Expert for the same purpose.
 On December 12, 2016, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim announced
that the World Bank would pause before taking further steps in each of the two
processes requested by the parties. This was done to safeguard the treaty, since
referring the matter simultaneously to the processes sought by each of the
countries risked contradictory outcomes and worked against the spirit of goodwill
and friendship that underpins the Treaty.
 The World Bank hosted the two latest rounds at its headquarters in Washington on
July 31-Aug 1 and Sept 14-15.
 Bimal Patel, a member of India’s National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) and
Law Commission, told the newspaper that he “doesn’t know what the
government’s intention is, but it is uncalled for to participate in such meetings to
perpetuate a third party role”.
 In the first round in Washington on July 31 and August 1 this year, Pakistan
proposed amendments to the designs to make the Indian project treaty compliant.
 But in the latest round of the talks in September, India not only refused to accept
any of the design amendments proposed by Pakistan but also refused to agree to
any of the dispute settlement options suggested by the World Bank.
 Despite the passage of more than a year, the World Bank is not establishing the
court of arbitration, because the Indian lobby has also big influence on the bank
not to play an active role in the matter.