On Monday, a five-member Pakistani delegation led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will attend the 118th bilateral meeting on the Indus Water Treaty in New Delhi. The party arrived in India the day before through the Wagah border. Under the Indus Water Agreement, the two sides will also discuss the 1,000-megawatt Pakal Dal, 48-megawatt Lower Kalnai, and 624-megawatt Kiru hydroelectric projects that India is building on Pakistan’s rivers.
The 118th meeting is now being held in New Delhi, according to Shah. The previous meeting was held in Islamabad in March. During the meeting in Islamabad, India flatly dismissed Pakistan’s concerns about the 1989 data-sharing agreement’s provision of data on the flow of the eastern rivers Ravi, Satluj, and Beas, saying it could only provide data on the flow of eastern rivers to Pakistan if high floods were forecast during the monsoon. While spearheading the negotiations, Shah objected to the design of India’s contentious projects and was guaranteed by the Indian side that good outcomes would be communicated to Pakistan by May of this year.
“Response to Pakistan’s objections to Indian projects such as Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai was also sought,” the meeting’s communiqué stated. Let’s see what will be the final result of this meeting.
