ISLAMABAD, 19 January 2005 — Pakistan has formally decided to seek World Bank arbitration in a row with rival India over the construction of a dam in Kashmir.

“The government of Pakistan has decided to approach the World Bank for the appointment of a neutral expert for the resolution of the Baglihar dam issue,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan told reporters yesterday. He said the decision was taken at a meeting here on Tuesday chaired by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

It is the first time Pakistan has sought arbitration of a World Bank-brokered water-sharing treaty, which it signed with India in 1960.

Jurist Pervez Hasan will lead Pakistan’s legal team at the World Bank. The attorney-general will also be available to guide him while a team of international experts from the United States will be appointed to assist the Pakistani team.

Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Gen. Jehangir Karamat, will move the World Bank on behalf of his country. A panel of legal experts from within the country and another panel of international jurists will be approved at the meeting.

India saw no need for Pakistan to refer the dispute to the World Bank.

“We do not believe that a reference to the World Bank is justified,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters in New Delhi.

“Our view has been that during detailed discussion there had been some convergence. And we believe through further talks, further convergence can be promoted,” Sarna said.

Pakistani government sources said Islamabad will move the World Bank on two counts: India should be asked to halt construction work on the Baglihar Dam immediately till the disposal of Pakistan’s petition and the bank should appoint a neutral expert to examine the dam and its design to determine its compatibility with the Indus Basin Water Treaty. Pakistan will also ask the World Bank to entertain the petition without delay.

India is building the Baglihar dam in its portion of the Himalayan region, and Pakistan fears it will deprive its main agricultural province of water for irrigation. It claims the dam is a violation of the Indus Water Treaty. Talks in New Delhi collapsed earlier this month.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Khan said the decision to seek mediation from the World Bank was reached after months of frustration. “India has inordinately delayed the process... and pressed ahead with the construction of the dam in violation of the treaty, so we have taken the decision to approach the World Bank,” he said.

The Washington-based bank was involved in the initial drafting of the water treaty, and Pakistan says it is empowered to step in to resolve disputes.

Khan said parallel peace talks between the South Asian countries would continue on schedule, but he added that the dispute over the dam “will cast a bad light on the dialogue process.”

He said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Shaukat Aziz in New Delhi in November had promised to “intervene to bilaterally resolve the issue of Baglihar dam,” but “to our disappointment, India made no change in its stance.”