NEW DELHI: Along with a Pakistan delegation expected early next week, India will also host a team of World Bank experts for talks on the hydroelectric power projects in J&K that Islamabad has objected to.
The talks will happen under the provisions of the World Bank-backed 1960 Indus Waters Treaty which provides a framework for irrigation and hydropower development, allocating the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) to Pakistan and the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India.
This is the first time India will allow such a visit since World Bank in October 2022 appointed a neutral expert to examine the issue. The delegation will visit J&K for on-site inspections. The IWT Treaty allows each country certain uses of the rivers allocated to the other. TOI had reported on June 10 that India will host a delegation from Pakistan for Indus talks, the first contact between the two countries since the return of the NDA govt.