India, Pakistan differ over Kashmir dam study

INDIA: A World Bank-appointed expert on Monday delivered his report on the building of a dam in divided Kashmir to the governments of India and Pakistan.

The disputed 450-megawatt Baglihar Dam is being built by India on the Chenab river, which flows from Indian Kashmir into Pakistan. Islamabad has objected to its design saying it violates a 1960 World Bank-brokered water-sharing treaty. India rejects the charge.

Pakistan is heavily dependent on rivers flowing from Indian Kashmir for its hydropower and irrigation needs, and water resources are seen as a potential flashpoint between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, which have fought three wars since 1947.

In 2005, Raymond Lafitte, a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, was given the task of bridging differences over the Baglihar dam and both sides have said they will comply with his findings. On Monday both countries said his report - which was not made public - largely backed their stand.

Among the contentious issues, Pakistan said the study called for the dam's height to be lowered by 1.5 metres, to which India responded it had agreed to this before Lafitte took up his post. "India's point of view has been completely upheld," Indian Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz said. "The overall design of the dam remains intact."

But in Islamabad an official also welcomed the report.

"The neutral expert has in his verdict today clearly said that the design of the project is (a) violation of the treaty so this is good news for Pakistan," Water and Power Minister Liaqat Ali Jatoi told reporters.

"The expert decided that India should modify its design." New Delhi, Tuesday, Reuters