THE ministry of water and power has yet to make up its mind to wage another legal battle against India for carrying out ‘illegal’ construction of 45MW Nimoo-Baz hydropower project on the Indus River.

Few may disagree that any delay in approaching the International Court of Arbitration will benefit India as had already happened in the case Kishanganga dam.

The hard fact is that in most of the disputes over construction of dams, storages and power stations, Pakistan has been found wanting in playing a pro-active role to prevent India from going ahead with controversial or illegal projects the moment they are launched.

Usually, our officials are too ignorant or too late in discovering the excesses on India’s part and also very lethargic in seeking legal remedy. That is why we have suffered setbacks or lost in most of the legal battles while India has the courage to launch more and more projects and make use of the lacuna in the Indus Water Treaty.

Hence, in the light of such work culture and attitudes our ministry may take about six months, as some officials say, to complete documentation work and then file the case. In Kishanganga case, the bureaucracy took more than a year after it got the go-ahead decision to file the case with the ICA at a time when more than 40 per cent construction work has been completed. But in Nimoo-Bazgo case the dice is already loaded against us. About 80 per cent of the construction work is reported to have been completed and its expected inauguration in near future may render Pakistan’s case irrelevant.

A formal permission to knock at the door of the International Court of Arbitration was given to the water ministry by Prime Minister Gilani about two months ago after he received a convincing letter from Arshad H. Abbasi, an expert on water issues, about incredible happenings relating to Nimoo-Bazgo dam.

The villain of the piece, however, turned out to be an old-time water expert Syed Jamaat Ali Shah, chief of Pakistan Commission of Indus Water, as claimed by Abbasi and proved by an official probe done by secretary Wapda. Mr Shah, who is now in Canada after his retirement, is accused of having helped India complete the controversial hydroelectric project.

According to the probe results, he maintained ‘criminal’ silence over the project from year 2002 to 2005 and between 2007, 2008 and 2009 and did not raise any objections during Pakistan-India meetings at the level of Permanent Commission of Indus Waters. Mr Shah said that he had asked the Indian side for more than 12 times seeking permission to visit Nimoo-Bazgo and Chuttak projects, but it did not allow him.

He told media earlier that he had asked his ministry and Kamal Majidulah, special assistant to PM on water, in July 2010 to move the Court of Arbitration against India for building Nimoo-Bazgo dam because it was not in line with Indus Water Treaty provisions, but they remained unmoved.

In the case of Kishanganga project, Pakistan had decided in May 2010 to approach the ICA but by this time India had almost completed the 22-km tunnel, an important component of the project, to divert Kishanganga (it is called Neelum as it enters Azad Kashmir) waters to Wullar Lake. Originally, Mr Shah had asked the government in March, 2009, to approach the ICA but it took more than 14 months to take a final decision.

In these cases, time is of essence. India has been benefiting from Pakistan’s indecisiveness by expediting the work on the project. India decided to develop the project in 1988; it informed Pakistan in the mid-1990s. The issue remained on the agenda of the Permanent Indus Commission for more than eight years.

It was on October 8, 2010 that minister Raja Pervez Ashraf informed the National Assembly that Pakistan has instituted proceedings in the International Court of Arbitration to resolve the dispute with India over Kishanganga dam.

When will the government make such a decision about Nimoo-Bazgo is anybody’s guess. According to the project website, the Nimoo-Bazgo is a run-of-the-river power project on the Indus River situated at village Alchi, 70 kilometers from Leh in the Indian state of Jammu_and_Kashmir. It was conceived on July 1, 2001, approved on June 8, 2005, and its construction began on June 9, 2005. The project involves construction of a 57-metre-high concrete dam with five spillway blocks of 13 m each having ogee profile.

The project envisages utilising a rated net head of 34m to generate 239.30 GWh (million units) in a 90 per cent dependable year. The project has three surface power units of 15 MW each with an installed capacity of 45 MW. The project will be connected to the northern grid through a 220 kV transmission line from Leh to Srinagar. The commissioning/completion date is December 2010. It has, as such, been delayed. No new dates have been announced but it is expected to be completed either in August, 2012 or June, 2013.

According to Arshad Abbasi, India is building, on the whole, nine new dams of an estimated capacity of 1055 MW hydroelectricity generation, on the main Indus and Chenab Rivers. In his letter to the PM, he said despite his repeated requests to the ministry no steps have been taken to take up the matter with India.

Giving details of the projects, he said, India is building seven new dams on main Indus River, along with two other projects on Suru and Drass Rivers. These projects have been offered to private sector for which modalities are being worked out. This work by the Indian side has been initiated sans due diligence on the project in the framework of Indus Water Treaty. “This is to emphasise that we are left with a very short time to plead our case as both projects are likely to be completed in the next five years.”

He said, he had never received from the Adviser or the Additional Secretary of the ministry any response about his messages, which “raises severe doubts on the credibility of these officials who appear to be intentionally paving way for the projects of India, by ignoring the interest of Pakistan”.