No headway in talks on Tulbul
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 5 — India and Pakistan agreed to continue discussions for finding an amicable solution to the Tulbul navigation project as no breakthrough could be achieved today with the two sides sticking to their respective positions during their talks.

The second leg of the composite dialogue, which began in Islamabad last month, got off to a dismal start as the two teams remained engaged in sorting out the basic approach to the bilateral talks on the project.

Briefing newspersons after the talks, the Secretary in the Ministry of Water Resources, Mr Z. Hasan, said that "there was no convergence of views on the issue between the two sides. Both sides stuck to their earlier positions."

Mr Hasan, when asked if the problem was "political", replied in the affirmative, saying "yes, it could be".

The Secretary said that "differences are still very much there and that is why further discussions will continue". "We are working towards a solution. It is a complex problem", Mr Hasan said.

A joint statement issued after the parleys said, "It was agreed that discussions would continue at the next round of the dialogue process with a view to finding a solution consistent with the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960".

Later, Mr Hasan said that "there is no agreement on restarting the work on the project" which began in 1984 but had been kept in abeyance since 1987 with Islamabad raising objections to water-sharing by invoking the treaty.

In the beginning, India wanted to continue discussions on the Tulbul project from the point where the two sides had left in 1992 at the Foreign Secretaries level dialogue, but Pakistan wanted to start afresh, Mr Hasan said.

The Indian delegation informed the Pakistani team that eight rounds on the issue had already been held and it would be a "waste of time and energy," if earlier parleys were repeated. Instead, the two sides should pick up the threads from where they had left it in 1992, the Indian side said.

"Pakistan finally agreed to Delhi’s suggestion", Mr Hasan said, adding "hopefully in subsequent rounds, we will be able to arrive at an agreement".

While India had been insisting that the project was for the purpose of navigation and was of a non-consumptive nature as permitted in the Indus Waters Treaty, Pakistan had been rejecting Delhi’s position.

Delhi’s contention that it was not creating any new water storage facility as the Wullar Lake was already there and it was merely constructing a barrage for regulating the water flow in the Jhelum was rejected by Pakistan.

The Pakistani delegation stated that water storage was not permissible under the treaty.

The Indian side stressed that by constructing the Tulbul navigation project, the water flow would increase in the lean season from 2000 to 4000 cusecs. It would not only benefit the people of Jammu and Kashmir but would also prove beneficial to people of Pakistan as more water during the lean season would help the downstream projects on the Pakistani side, Delhi pointed out.

Islamabad also made it clear that it was not agreeable to the 1992 draft agreement on the project in which most of these issues had been attended to. The Pakistani argument that the downstream projects in Pakistan would be affected if the project was implemented failed to convince India, Mr Hasan said, adding that "they did not make any specific mention of the projects that would be affected".

The lack of progress at today’s phase of talks was indicative of the present Pakistani approach to the bilateral relationship, experts said, adding that no breakthrough was expected at the talks on other five subjects. The present round of Indo-Pak composite dialogue process would remain exploratory in nature as the two sides were trying to assess each other’s political intentions.

The Pakistani side was led by the Secretary in the Ministry of Water and Power, Syed Shahid Hussain. The talks were held at Hyderabad House.