*NEW DELHI – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated on Saturday ahydroelectric power plant in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, amid protestsfrom neighbor Pakistan which says the project on a river flowing intoPakistan will disrupt water supplies.*
The 330 megawatt Kishanganga hydropower station, work on which started in2009, is one of the projects that India has fast-tracked in the volatilestate amid frosty ties between the nuclear-armed countries.
“This region can not only become self-sufficient in power but also producefor other regions of the country,” Modi said in the state’s capital,Srinagar. “Keeping that in mind we have been working on various projectshere in the past four years.”
Pakistan has opposed some of these projects, saying they violate a WorldBank-mediated treaty on the sharing of the Indus river and its tributariesupon which 80 percent of its irrigated agriculture depends.
“Pakistan is seriously concerned about the inauguration (of the Kishangangaplant),” its foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday. “Pakistanbelieves that the inauguration of the project without the resolution of thedispute is tantamount to violation of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).”
The Kishanganga project was delayed for several years as Pakistan draggedIndia to the International Court of Arbitration, which ruled in India’sfavor in 2013.
India has said the hydropower projects underway in Jammu and Kashmir are“run-of-the-river” schemes that use the river’s flow and elevation togenerate electricity rather than large reservoirs, and do not contravenethe treaty.
A day before Modi’s trip to the northern state, at least nine people werekilled on both sides of the border due to firing by each other’s securityforces, officials said.
The two countries have fought three wars, two over Kashmir that they rulein part but claim in full.
India accuses Pakistan of promoting militancy in Kashmir, a charge thatIslamabad denies.
Modi, who is on a day-long visit to the state, also flagged off theconstruction of the 14 km (9 mile)-long Zojila tunnel to provideall-weather connectivity between the cities of Srinagar, Kargil and Leh.
The government said it would be the longest road tunnel in India and Asia’slongest two-way tunnel, to be constructed at a cost of $1 billion.