Islamabad

The World Bank announced the beginning of two parallel legal processes to address Pakistan’s concerns over two hydropower projects on the western rivers by India in violation of the Indus Basin Treaty, breaking a six-year-old gridlock.

The World Bank, which brokered the I960's Indus Basin Treaty took a complex path after Islamabad and New Delhi could not build consensus on any single mechanism for the dispute resolution, given in the treaty.

"In line with its responsibilities under the Indus Waters Treaty, the World Bank has made the appointments. In the two separate processes requested by India and Pakistan in relation to the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric power plants," the bank said in a statement.

India had requested for appointment of a 'Neutral Expert', while Pakistan opted for Court of Arbitration.

In response, Michel Lino has been appointed as the Neutral Expert and Professor Sean Murphy has been appointed as Chairman of the Court of Arbitration, according to the World Bank.

They will carry out their duties in their individual capacity as subject matter experts and independently of any other appointments they may currently hold, it added.

In 2016, Pakistan asked the World Bank to facilitate the setting up of a Court of Arbitration to look into its concerns about the designs of the two hydroelectric power projects. India asked for the appointment of a Neutral Expert for the same purpose.

The matter remained lingering for the past six years.

The requests from both Pakistan and India came after the Permanent Indus Commission remained engaged in discussions on the matter for a while.

The disagreement between India and Pakistan concerns the design features of the 330-megawatt Kishenganga, built on Jhelum River and the 850-megawatt Ratle hydropower project, being set up over Chenab River.

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India inaugurated the Kishenganga project in 2018, while work on the Ratle project began a few months ago.