QUETTA, June 28: Sindh and Balochistan have decided to hold a high-level meeting very soon to resolve differences over the distribution of Indus river water between both the provinces, official sources said on Monday.

The decision came during a telephonic conversation between the chief ministers of Sindh and Balochistan, who will later attend this important meeting. The Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Mir Mohammad Yousuf has established contact with Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim over telephone and discussed the problems regarding distribution of Indus water between both the provinces.

Jam Yousuf informed him that Balochistan needed 2400 cusecs of water flow in Kirthar Canal from Indus but it was not receiving its share due to non-implementing of the water distribution formula by the concerned authorities which was creating problems for the tailenders in Jhal Magsi, Jaffarabad and Nasirabad districts in Balochistan.

"The rice crop is badly affected in the Kirthar Canal command area," Jam Yousuf told the Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim over the telephone. He urged upon his counterpart that Sindh should first provide full water share to Balochistan under the Indus water distribution formula and then fulfil its own water requirement so Balochistan should not face a water shortage.

In the telephonic talks both the chief ministers agreed to make serious efforts to resolve all issues pending between the provinces. They decided a high-level meeting would be convened in Karachi very soon in which the chief ministers of both the provinces would participate.

Besides former Chief Minister Mir Mohammad Khan Jamali and members of the provincial assembly belonging to the affected district of the province would also attend that meeting.