17 July 2004	Saturday	28 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD, July 16: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri told the Senate on Friday that Pakistan and India would sort out their differences over the disputed Baglihar dam by early November.

"If India does not stop construction work on the plant and does not agree to address Pakistan's concerns on the design of the plant, we will approach the World Bank," he said in reply to a question by MMA Senator Prof Ghafoor Ahmad.

The foreign minister said the controversy regarding the design of the Baglihar hydro-electric project had been discussed in several meetings of the Permanent Indus Commission but all the meetings and exchange of correspondence had so far been unable to resolve the questions raised by Pakistan.

He said as per the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty, the Pakistan Commissioner for Indus waters had notified the Indian Commissioner on May 8 last year of his intention to ask for the appointment of a neutral expert. He also requested the two governments to appoint a neutral expert, Mr Kasuri said.

Mr Kasuri said Pakistan invited India to propose modalities for the appointment of a neutral expert but New Delhi requested to resolve the matter through bilateral consultations.

He said Pakistan conveyed its willingness to enter into further negotiations if India agreed to suspend all construction work on the project, allowed on-site inspection by the Pakistan Commissioner and agreed to an amicable settlement by the end of December 2003.

India, Mr Kasuri said, responded partially by allowing on-site inspection which took place in October 2003. The design of the plant was found to be not in conformity with the provisions of the Treaty.

He said in a spirit of goodwill, Pakistan did not go to the World Bank and held at least three meetings with India from January to June this year to resolve the issue.

"The two sides agreed to resolve the differences on Baglihar definitely by early November, 2004," the minister said. Mr Kasuri said Pakistan had also raised objections with India on the construction of the Dul-Hasti hydroelectric project on River Chenab.

He said an inspection of the under-construction Dul-Hasti plant was undertaken by Pakistan on March 27 while the project was likely to be completed by December.

PRISONERS: Mr Kasuri informed the Senate that 661 Pakistanis were being held as prisoners in six countries on charges of travelling on invalid travel documents.

Replying to a question from Prof Ghafoor Ahmed, he said 238 of these Pakistanis were detained in France, 14 in Spain, 200 in Britain, 60 in Malaysia, 146 in the United States and four in Malaysia.

In response to a question by Senator Sanaullah Baloch about the number of Pakistanis arrested and convicted in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban government, Mr Kasuri said more than a thousand Pakistanis went there in 2001 on their own initiative.

He said as a result of the government's efforts, 612 of them had been released from Afghan jails so far while about 523 were still detained there. Mr Kasuri said the Afghan government had denied any transfer of Pakistani prisoners to India when the matter was taken up in meetings between the two countries.

He said Afghan authorities had agreed to release the remaining Pakistani prisoners and were in the process of expediting the process. In response to another question, Mr Kasuri said the US repatriated 454 Pakistanis from June 2003 till May 30, 2004.

Most of them were deported on grounds of illegal entry or overstay but a few of them were allegedly involved in petty crimes like credit card fraud, domestic violence, possession of guns and marriage fraud.