New Delhi: In a significant move, India has served a formal notice to Pakistan seeking a review of the 64-year-old Indus Water Treaty, citing "fundamental and unforeseen" changes in the circumstances and impact of persistent cross-border terrorism. The notice was issued to Pakistan on August 30 under Article XII(3) of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), government sources said on Wednesday.
India and Pakistan signed the IWT on September 19, 1960, after nine years of negotiations with a sole aim to manage cross-border rivers. India's notification highlights fundamental and unforeseen changes in circumstances that require a reassessment of obligations under various articles of the treaty, the sources said.
Among various concerns, the important ones include changes in population demographics, environmental issues and the need to accelerate development of clean energy to meet India's emission targets, they said. India also cited the impact of persistent cross border terrorism as one of the reasons for demanding the review.
It was the second time in over one-and-half years that India issued a notice to Pakistan seeking modification of the IWT. "The notification was issued in the background of a separate prolonged controversy with respect to Kishanganga and Ratle Hydro Projects," said a source on the latest notification.
"In this regard, the World Bank has simultaneously activated both the neutral expert mechanism and the Court of Arbitration on the same set of issues," it said. "The Indian side has, therefore, also called for reconsideration of the dispute resolution mechanism under the treaty," it added.
With this notification, India has called Pakistan to begin government-to-government negotiations in order to review the treaty under the provisions of Article XII(3), the sources said. In January last year, India issued the first notice to Pakistan seeking a review and modification of the treaty following Islamabad's "intransigence" in handling certain disputes.
New Delhi took the significant step months after the World Bank announced appointing a neutral expert and a chair of Court of Arbitration to resolve the differences over the Kishenganga and Ratle Hydro Electric Projects in Jammu and Kashmir. The World Bank, being a signatory of the pact, sets out a mechanism for cooperation and information exchange between the two sides on the use of waters of a number of cross-border rivers.
India issued the previous notice as it was particularly disappointed over the appointment of the Court of Arbitration. New Delhi considers the start of the two concurrent processes to resolve the dispute a violation of the provision of the graded mechanism prescribed in the pact and wondered what would happen if the mechanisms came out with contradictory judgements. India has not cooperated with the Court of Arbitration.
