ISLAMABAD, 24 June 2006 — Pakistani and Indian officials ended their two-day talks yesterday without reaching agreement on an ongoing dispute over a barrage India is constructing on the river Jhelum in the Kashmir region.
After the talks in Islamabad, India’s Secretary Water J. Hari Narayan and his Pakistani counterpart Ashfaq Mehmood, however, described their meeting as “constructive.”
The talks had provided a “better understanding of each other’s view,” a joint statement issued after the meeting said.
India started building the Wullar barrage in its part of Kashmir in 1984, drawing strong protest from Pakistan, which termed it a violation of the Indus Water Treaty they had signed in 1960 to resolve disputes over water-sharing.
The treaty allocates waters of three western rivers — the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab — to Pakistan while India has rights over three eastern rivers — Ravi, Sutlej and Beas.
However, the treaty allows India certain uses in the upper catchments of the three western rivers in its-administered Kashmir.
In a joint statement, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to the treaty, and said they would continue discussions. Mahmood said the foreign ministries would decide the dates.
Pakistan and India said at the end of the talks that they would need more time to settle the dispute.
“Pakistan and India have agreed to continue discussion under the next round of composite dialogue with a view to resolving the issue in accordance with the provisions of the treaty,” the statement said.
Indian Secretary Narayan, however, suggested the two sides remained stuck to their respective positions on the issue.
“There will be breakthrough when there is a perfect understanding between the two sides,” he told reporters when asked when the “real progress” could be achieved in talks.
India halted construction work in 1987 after Pakistan raised objection to its design but it has not abandoned the project.
Dates for the next round of talks would be worked out through “diplomatic channels,” said the Pakistani official.
Pakistan and India said at the end of two days of talks yesterday that they would need more time to settle a dispute over India’s plans to build a barrage on a river flowing from its side of Kashmir.
The inconclusive outcome reflected the slow pace of peace talks begun more than two years ago by South Asia’s nuclear rivals, although there has been some progress in diplomatic, business and sporting ties.
The two nuclear South Asian often-hostile neighbors are currently engaged in peace talks that began in February 2004 and have led to many confidence building measures (CBMs), including increased rail, road and air links to promote people-to-people contact.
