Such is the anti-India obsession of Pakistan that notwithstanding the Indus Water Treaty, an international Treaty between the two countries signed under the aegis of Word Bank, Pakistan has been knocking at the international court at La Hague to intervene and arbitrate on even the smallest and even uncontroversial issues related to water sharing. It is true that the Indus Water Treaty leaves the scope for approaching the International Court of Justice for hearing any complaint in the context of water sharing. But that does not mean that the two countries should come to loggerheads on even very casual and not too significant issues and they raise bogey of deprivation and run after the International Court and supplicate for arbitration. It shows that Pakistan either lacks the ability to give legal interpretation of the clauses of Indus Water Treaty or that it has got bogged with the habit of taking resort to litigation.
India took the initiative of diverting the water of Kishenganga River flowing in her territory in North Kashmir to Bonar Nullah, again within Indian Territory through tunnel. This water is used for generating hydroelectric power to the tune of 330 mw. Pakistan made an issue out of it and objected to India’s right of using the water for production of electricity. Not convinced that the clauses of the Indus Water Treaty were not violated in any case, Pakistan knocked at the door of the International Court in La Hague and demanded arbitration, something that is provided in the Indus Water Treaty. The judges of the arbitration court, a wing of the international court, paid two on spot visits. With ground situation in its knowledge, the court gave sufficient time to Pakistan to plead its case which she did but failed to convince the court. The verdict has gives India the right to go ached with the Kishenganga Hydroelectric Power Project (KHEP). The court of arbitration allowed Pakistan the right to receive nine cumecs (cubic meters per second) into the Kishenganga/Neelum River below the Kishenganga hydro-electric project (KHEP) at “all times.”
The decision of the court of arbitration is fine though it has allowed Pakistan to approach the World Bank authority for reconsideration of her case but not before seven years. The Arbitration Court has established that India has not at all violated any clause of the Indus Water Treaty and has completed the construction of KHEP before Pakistan undertook the hydro-electric power project on the confluence of Kishenganga and Jhelum. 330 mw of power which the KHEP is expected to generate will be a boon to the mountainous and less accessible areas of Gurez-Tilel region.
It may be mentioned that the case was decided partially in favour of India by an earlier dispensation but Pakistan still decided to go to the International Court. We do not mean to say that Pakistan should be deprived of its share of water. She has every right to serve her interests. But we have observed that Pakistan, in stead of reasoning out doubts and disputes feels that she has served her ego by dragging India to the international court. It is 53 years that Indus Water Treaty was signed between the two countries. Pakistan has approached the international court a number of times with one or the other complaint and none of has been upheld.
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