12 January 2005	Wednesday	01 Zilhaj 1425

NEW DELHI, Jan 11: India urged Pakistan on Tuesday to have more technical discussions over Islamabad's objections on the Baglihar hydro-power project, asserting that the two countries were fully capable of bilaterally resolving their differences on the issue.

Reacting to reports on Tuesday that Pakistan would seek arbitration by the World Bank to sort out the Baglihar issue, a spokesman for the Indian government described the project as a run of the river structure which was fully compatible with the provisions of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960.

He noted that in the last round of four-day talks in New Delhi between India and Pakistan last week, New Delhi had presented detailed technical inputs on the project. "In our view, there is no ground for apprehension that the project is violative of the Indus Water Treaty provisions."

The spokesman said there were detailed discussions between the two sides and there was also convergence on some of the points. "We believe more technical discussions are likely to lead to further convergence...we have offered more talks with Pakistan," he said.

However, if Pakistan chose to 'disregard' India's offer, New Delhi would respond appropriately, he added. There was no indication of what India proposed to do to respond.