June 16, 2010 9:11 PM

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India appoints two experts as arbitrators over Kishenganga hydro power project

India has appointed two experts as arbitrators over 330-MW Kishenganga hydro power project in Jammu and Kashmir after being disputed by Pakistan in an international court of arbitration. <br/><br/>Pakistan named its experts for arbitration recently, following which India on Wednesday also decided to nominate a judge of the Geneva-based International Court of Justice Peter Tomka and a Swiss international law expert Lucius Caflisch to represent it. <br/><br/>External affairs spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said in New Delhi, India has also invited Government of Pakistan for consultations regarding the appointment of three umpires, including a Chairman of the Court of Arbitration, by mutual agreement . He said Pakistan has instituted arbitration proceedings on 18th of May on the Project by appointing Simma and Paulsson as its arbitrators for the seven-member Court of Arbitration, which is being set up in accordance with the Treaty.<br/><br/>AIR correspondent reports,as per the provisions of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, once one of the sides names its arbitrators, the other side has to name its panel within 30 days. India has to send its response on Kishenganga arbitration to Pakistan by tomorrow. <br/><br/>Pakistan is learnt to have sought legal interpretation on two major parameters concerning the diversion of Kishenganga water for the power project in Jammu and Kashmir.First, it has sought the legal interpretation of India's obligations under the provisions of the Treaty that mandates India to let the water of the Western-flowing Indus Basin Rivers ,Chenab, Jhelum and Indus, go to Pakistan and whether or not the Kishenganga project meets those obligations. New Delhi maintains that it is within its rights, under the Treaty, to divert Kishenganga waters to the Bonar Madmati Nullah, another tributary of the Jhelum, which falls into the Wullar Lake before joining the Jhelum again. Pakistan has objected to this, saying India's plan to divert water causes obstruction to the flow of Kishenganga.

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