India will pay off Pakistan for Baglihar outage

ISLAMABAD: The Indian authorities have agreed to resolve the ongoing Indo-Pak dispute by paying off in terms of water for the outage it had caused to Pakistan while filling up the Baglihar Dam on the Indian side of the border.

According to well-placed sources involved in the ongoing Indo-Pak negotiations, their Indian counterparts have responded to the Pakistani protest against halting the agreed water flow into river Chinab, in a cordial manner.

“They [Indians] seemed to be willing to pay us compensation in terms of water,” federal secretary for water and power Ismail Qureshi said, adding that the water was not an appropriate compensation for the Indian violation of Indus Basin Water Treaty of 1960.
“We want a solution within the framework of the treaty and that too a quick one,” he added.

“Since the Indians claim that the river flow has been reduced, we have asked for the Baglihar Dam inflow and outflow data to verify it,” he said. The federal secretary was hoping for the Indian response most probably provision of the required data in a couple of days.

“Our commissioner to the treaty Syed Jamaat Ali Shah is also visiting India in a day or two as per the earliest availability of his counterpart at New Delhi,” he said. Asked if not water what else Pakistan should expect in terms of compensation if the violation of the World Bank brokered Treaty is proven on part of India, the Qureshi said neutral experts would decide in that case.

“We want earliest resolution of the dispute short of the stage requiring third party intervention. Bilateral resolution would be the best,” he said.