ICA set aside Pakistan objections on Kishanganga
ICA set aside Pakistan objections and ruled in favour of India on diversion of Kishanganga water.
The International Court of Arbitration (ICA) on Monday ruled in favour of India s position on the diversion of Kishanganga water, setting aside objections by Pakistan that has halted work on the 330 MW Kishanganga hydel project in Indian-held Kashmir.
Islamabad took New Delhi to the court of arbitration in the summer of 2010, disrupting Indian plans to divert water from the Kishanganga into the Bona Madmati Nallah. Islamabad said the diversion violated provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1965, a claim that India refuted.
The International Court of Arbitration (ICA) at The Hague today upheld India s right to divert water from the Kishanganga hydroelectric project (KHEP).
Pakistan had been objecting to the construction of the hydroelectric project on the Kishanganga in Kashmir, which is called Neelum upon entering Pakistan.
In November 2009, Pakistan had proposed the establishment of a Court of Arbitration and the appointment of a neutral expert to resolve the Kishanganga dam dispute.
The Indus Waters Treaty, inked between India and Pakistan, provides appointment of a neutral expert by the World Bank as a last option to resolve water-related issues between the two countries.
While India had been maintaining that it was within its rights, under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, to divert Kishanganga waters to Bonar Madmati Nullah, Pakistan had been objecting saying India’s plan to divert waters would cause obstruction to the flow of the river. The project had been discussed in the Permanent Indus Commission.
Pakistan approached the international court with its main objections being diversion and change of sub-basin of the Kishanganga.
