UNITED NATIONS: The World Bank is finalising a fresh initiative to resolvedispute over the India’s construction of the Kishan Ganga and Ratleprojects, saying the multilateral lender would soon contact Pakistan andIndia, WB chief Jim Young Kim has said.
Kim said this during a meeting with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshion Monday on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly,after the latter presented his government’s position on these projects in”a forceful and emphatic manner”, according to an official statement.
The focus of the meeting was the World Bank’s role in implementation of theIndus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan as its administrator.
The foreign minister said Indian construction of the Kishan Ganga and Ratleprojects was a violation of the 1960 treaty, which gave Pakistan exclusiverights to western rivers.
He emphasised that the procedural delay on Pakistan’s request to the WorldBank to empanel the Court of Arbitration had resulted in completion of theKishan Ganga project while construction work on Ratle was in progress.
Qureshi said that the new government viewed this as a humanitarian issuewith lives and livelihood of millions at stake, adding that it was notinterested in politicising the issue.
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The World Bank president said that he understood Pakistan’s position on thetreaty, however, expressed the bank’s desire to play a constructive role inresolving this important matter at the earliest.
In this context, he remarked, with the ongoing challenge of climate change,water issues were likely to be more prominent on the international agenda.
“He indicated that the World Bank was in the process of finalising a freshinitiative and would soon be approaching Pakistan and India with details,”the statement added.
The meeting was held in a cordial environment, wherein it was decided thatregular contacts would be maintained at various levels for an early andamicable settlement to the issue.
