LAHORE, Feb 16: The Indian Commissioner of Indus Basin Treaty has severed all contacts with its Pakistani counterpart, placing the operational part of the treaty under “virtual suspension.”

A source privy to the situation told Dawn on Saturday that the last contact made by the Indian side was on Dec 24 by which an inspection by the Pakistan engineers of India’s Baglihar power plant was suspended. Since then, it has not responded to any of the correspondence from the Pakistani side.

Being a lower riparian of Indus, Pakistan needs information on the design and status of any projects being planned on its water system. This is essential to ensure water quota Pakistan is supposed to receive under the treaty. At present, Pakistan is seeking information on the Baglihar and Jehlum-Nelum (Kishen Ganga) power projects. Flood warning is another key requirement. India is obliged to provide this information unless it decided to violate the treaty, the source said.

“This is virtual suspension of the executive part of the treaty,” maintains a legal expert on the treaty. Under the treaty, both sides established a permanent post of commissioner for Indus water to represent their governments and serve as the regular channel of communication on all matters relating to the implementation of the treaty. Any suspension of contacts will violate the treaty, he added.

Both sides can also arrange occasional meetings with mutual consent. The last such meeting was due to be held in December which the Indians refused to hold despite having agreed to that earlier, says an official of the provincial irrigation department.

The treaty also charges both sides to have annual meeting of the commissioners, and the next meeting is due latest by May. However, there are no signs of that meeting yet.

Both sides have been transferring — free of any charge — water discharge data to each other since 1989. But the Indian side has lately started demanding a price for the same. It sent Pakistan a bill of Rs5 million which was to be discussed at the scheduled December meeting, the source said.