India offers new talks to settle dam row

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf (L) and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (C) arrive at Hyderabad House for an official meeting in New Delhi Sunday. Musharraf and Singh began talks on disputed Kashmir, with hopes high for progress after both leaders urged a resolution of their outstanding differences. PHOTO: AFP

Pakistan asked the World Bank to intervene in a simmering dispute over the Baghilar 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.

The treaty, brokered by the World Bank, is one of the South Asian foes' most enduring agreements and has survived two wars between 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.

Meanwhile, India yesterday released 156 Pakistan fishermen jailed in the western state of Gujarat as a humanitarian gesture during a visit by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

The fishermen, arrested during the past year for illegally fishing in Indian territorial waters of the Arabian Sea, are being taken to the only land-border crossing between the two countries at Wagah in India's Punjab state, police said.

They are expected to cross into Pakistan Monday, said Manoj Shashidhar, superintendent of police in the Gujarat city of Jamnagar.