NEW DELHI, April 17: India said on Tuesday it was open to a new round of talks to try and resolve differences with Pakistan over the construction of a hydroelectric dam in the disputed state of Kashmir. Pakistan asked the World Bank to intervene in a simmering dispute over the Baglihar Dam which India is building in Indian Kashmir after talks over the project between the two countries collapsed in January last year.

Islamabad says the dam violates a 1960 water-sharing treaty, which bars India from interfering with the flow of the three rivers feeding Pakistan – the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum — but which allows it to generate electricity from them.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had told visiting Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf that New Delhi wanted more discussions on the dam project to assure Islamabad that water supplies would not be cut.

“Prime Minister Singh sought to allay Islamabad’s apprehensions on the issue and unequivocally stated India’s commitment to abide by the parameters

laid down by the 1960 treaty in letter and spirit,” Saran told reporters.

“There is a readiness to engage in further technical discussions on this issue to try and resolve it. We are prepared to do that. The Pakistan President was thankful for the assurances,” he added.

The World Bank announced in February this year that it would appoint a “neutral expert” to arbitrate in the row after it was approached by Pakistan.

India says it is building the dam to provide badly needed power to the part of Kashmir it administers.

The project is being built in two 450-megawatt phases. The first phase was due for completion in 2004 but has been delayed by the dispute. —AFP