ISLAMABAD, June 26: A five-member delegation headed by Secretary for Water and Power Ashfaq Mehmood is set to leave for Delhi on Monday for talks with India on the Wullar Barrage issue.
The two-day talks begin on Tuesday.
Indus Waters Commissioner Jamaat Ali Shah; Director-General, South Asia division, foreign ministry, Jalil Abbas Jilani; and two experts from the Pakistan Indus Waters Commission are in the delegation.
Mr Jilani told Dawn that the team was going with a problem-solving approach. His evasive response to the question whether any breakthrough was expected during indicated that chances of that were scant.
Since 1988 Pakistan and India have had 10 rounds of talks on Wullar Barrage, also referred to as Tulbul Navigation project.
The last round of talks held here in July 2004 remained inconclusive.
The dispute relates to Indian plans of constructing a barrage on Jhelum river in occupied Kashmir. In 1984, India started building the barrage in Baramullah district but halted construction three years later when Islamabad opposed the move.
Pakistan maintained that the project violated its rights as a lower riparian country granted by the Indus Waters Treaty.
However, India has not abandoned the project and says the barrage is aimed at facilitating navigation between Baramullah and Wullar in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan asserts that in view of several improved communications links, serving as better alternatives to river navigation, that have come up in the area, there is no justification for building the barrage.
Islamabad fears the barrage could interfere with the flow of Jhelum river water into Pakistan and adversely affect its agro-based economy. India insists that the barrage would not hinder water flows into Pakistan.
Although the treaty grants Pakistan the water rights on the Chenab, Jhelum and Indus, it allows India a limited use of these rivers.
