WASHINGTON, Feb 19: Pakistan has the option to go to a court of arbitration against the neutral expert’s decision in the Baglihar dispute but it seems in no hurry to do so.
Prof. Raymond Lafitte, a Swiss expert, upheld three of six objections Pakistan had raised and awarded three to India when he announced his decision on Feb 13.
The verdict was welcomed with claims of victory both in New Delhi and Islamabad. New Delhi still describes it as a major achievement while Islamabad has curbed its earlier enthusiasm and some Pakistani officials also have suggested that they may take it to the Court of Arbitration that the treaty permits.
Other experts, who spoke with Dawn but did not want to be identified because of their organisation’s neutral stance on this issue, believe that Pakistan will closely “examine all the implications” before going to a court of arbitration.
“If it is not victory, it is also not a defeat for Pakistan either,” said one of the experts. “Half of Pakistan’s objections were accepted, even if with some changes.”
He said he believes that Pakistan made no mistake in seeking third party arbitration in this dispute. “They did get major concessions, which was not possible without arbitration,” said the expert.
Pakistan had raised six objections to India’s plan to build a dam on the Chenab River, basing them on the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, which gave Islamabad water rights over three rivers of the Indus water system, including Chenab.
Since the World Bank had brokered the treaty, it was asked to name a neutral expert and on May 10, 2005 the bank appointed Prof. Lafitte.
The expert’s 116-page verdict questions various clauses of the Indus treaty and their feasibility in the present context. The report acknowledges India’s right to construct gated spillways and allows bondage of 32.58 million cubic metres as against India’s demand for 37.5 million cubic metres.
