Pakistani officials Monday ruled out joint control of a controversial dam being built by India in disputed Kashmir after visiting the project.
Islamabad opposes the billion-dollar Baglihar dam project, saying when completed it will deprive its wheat-bowl state of Punjab of vital irrigation water.
It says the plant also violates a 44-year-old treaty brokered by the World Bank for the two nations to share the waters of rivers which criss-cross their territories.
The bank is in the process of settling the dispute between the two nuclear rivals with the help of a Swiss professor who has been appointed as a “neutral arbitrator”.
Leader of the Pakistani delegation, Syed Jamat Ali Shah, told reporters Islamabad would await the bank’s verdict.
Asked if Pakistan would accept joint control of the dam as a solution, Shah said, “Not at all.”
Indian officials say the 450-megawatt project on the Chenab River does not contravene the water pact and could go a long way to ending routine 12-hour blackouts plaguing the Himalayan state.
The visit was the third by the Pakistani delegation to the dam site at Chanderkote, about 160 kilometres (99 miles) northeast of Jammu, Indian Kashmir’s winter capital.
India and Pakistan are in the midst of a peace dialogue over eight nagging issues including the dam and the core problem of Kashmir, which is divided between the neighbours but claimed in full by both.
