Pakistan denied stay against Kishanganga project

[LETHALFORCE]

Pakistan denied stay against Kishanganga project - PakTribune

ISLAMABAD: The writing had been on the wall for quite some time-thanks to the criminal incompetence of Pakistan's water legal eagles headed by special assistant to prime minister Kamala Majidullah-but even then the blow came hard.

A seven-member bench of International Court of Arbitration (COA) threw out Pakistan's inexplicably delayed request to grant a stay order against the construction of the controversial 330MW Kishanganga hydropower project, being built by India.

The COA at the Hague met on August 25 wherein Pakistan's legal team headed by Kamal Majidullah, special assistant to prime minister on water, had sought for the stay order.

"The COA denied the stay order to the low riparian country, putting Pakistan the question as to why it has changed its earlier stance as in January when the court met for the first time it did not ask for the stay," a senior official, who was part of court proceedings, told The News on the condition of anonymity. This correspondent tried several times to contact Naveed Qamar, federal minister for water and power, Imtiaz Kazi, secretary Water and Power, and Kamla Majidullah but failed to get their response.

Majidullah is also Pakistan's agent in the case against Kishanganga in the International Court of Arbitration. The correspondent also sent an SMS to the aforesaid personalities asking: "Did Pakistan manage to get the stay order in the COA against construction of Kishanganga project?" But no response was received.

When contacted, Arshad Abbasi, an eminent water expert, said: "This utter failure that may lead to lose the legal battle on this vital case is all because of incompetence and ignorance of Kamal Majidullah, who did not apply for a stay order against the construction at the Kishanganga project site in January".

Abbasi has made valuable research on water disputes between Pakistan and India including the Kishenganga project. Kamal Majidullah, Abbasi said, was not technically and legally competent or trained to render services as Pakistan's agent in the Kishanganga case.

According to the official, the COA on its own in initiative took note of serious environmental impact of Kishanganga Project on Neelum valley and the under- construction Neelum Jhelum Project.

Referring to abstracts of a report quoted in the international media and prepared by Pakistan's independent think tank, the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), on environmental impacts of Kishanganga Project, the court instructed the legal representatives of India to submit a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report of the Kishanganga project in the next hearing.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Draining away

Draining away

It is no exaggeration to say that our future – and the quality of life of all of us – is inextricably linked to water. We are becoming a water-poor state on top of all the other iterations of poverty that we endure, and we are about to be considerably poorer of this diminishing resource. Our old adversary India needs water as much as we do – if not more. India has a burgeoning and fast industrialising economy that has a raging thirst, and dams are the way to slake it, thereby maximising output. Both India and Pakistan have the misfortune to share several major river systems, and the sources of most of the rivers that water our land lie on the Indian side. Unlike Pakistan where there has been wrangling for decades over dam construction, India has been building dams hand over fist, with the latest to give us grief being the 330MW Kishanganga hydropower project. We had the right of appeal against this project, but true to form we have fumbled the opportunity.

The International Court of Arbitration sitting in The Hague has disallowed our inexplicably delayed request for a stay order against the building of the Kishanganga project (which is anyway now far advanced and due for completion in the next four years.) The villain of the piece appears to be the special assistant to the prime minister, Kamala Majidullah, who has been leading the legal team pleading our case. The competence of Majidullah for this task has been questioned in the past by experts and researchers who have had something to say about the environmental impact of the Kishanganga dam on our own Neelum Valley project. The COA raised the highly pertinent point to Majidullah as to why he did not raise objections to Kishanganga when he had the opportunity to do so back in January this year – to which there was no satisfactory reply. In other words, for lack of a little fast footwork, Pakistan had missed the window of opportunity to register an objection to an Indian project that is clearly to its detriment. The COA has questioned why Pakistan failed to register objections in January but was putting it forward now. It now seems inevitable that we are going to lose the legal battle. We could have won a better result for ourselves if we had picked the right person to plead our case, but instead a political placeman got stood up for it and we are the losers. Again.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

 

[LETHALFORCE]

 

[Daredevil]

Pakistanis must be squirming at the thought of losing to Indian once again. They keep losing but still have the chutzpah to punch above its weight.

In any case, India was on the right in following the rules of the treat to the book and so won the case. Even now we are underusing the waters that are allocated according to he Indus water treaty. Need to ramp up the dams and run of the river projects to get the water that is rightfully ours.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

Pakistanis must be squirming at the thought of losing to Indian once again. They keep losing but still have the chutzpah to punch above its weight.

In any case, India was on the right in following the rules of the treat to the book and so won the case. Even now we are underusing the waters that are allocated according to he Indus water treaty. Need to ramp up the dams and run of the river projects to get the water that is rightfully ours.

we should dam as much as possible, leaving very little for them to bring in the Chinese to dam, a good strategic move and perfectly legal according to international court. If Chinese can steal Brahmaputra waters then we can rightfully take our waters.

 

[bhogta]

We should bring water to Rajasthan. We no need to be goody goody any more.

 

[Blackwater]

Sach ka bol bala aur jothe ka muh kala:thumb::thumb:

 

[agentperry]

well it was bound to happen... we arent taking any water we are just changing its course so that it stays in India for a bit longer then giving pak its share.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

well it was bound to happen... we arent taking any water we are just changing its course so that it stays in India for a bit longer then giving pak its share.

This is one dam many others are being built hopefully we will keep all the water that rightfully belongs to us in India and let Pakistan continue taking us to court and lose.

 

[Virendra]

India abides by the Indus water treaty and hence Pakistan hasn't been able to score points in courts or create controversies.
But the Govt needs to be alert. The ruling elite in Pakistan is under pressure and to release that pressure they will try to find new sore points to fight over with India.

Regards,
Virendra

 

[LETHALFORCE]

India abides by the Indus water treaty and hence Pakistan hasn't been able to score points in courts or create controversies.
But the Govt needs to be alert. The ruling elite in Pakistan is under pressure and to release that pressure they will try to find new sore points to fight over with India.

Regards,
Virendra

Treaty says we have to share our rivers but if I am right amounts are not specified?? we can share 1 galloon or 10 galloons still same under the treaty, if Pakistan acts up too much threaten to throw out the treaty all together. China does not have a treaty to share the stolen waters of the Brahmaputra from the usurped land Tibet.

 

[jamwal]

Starve Paki punjab of all the water. Make them completely dependent on us for their crops and even drinking water. Not many things will make that hell hole go down the gutter faster.