Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday asked World Bank officials to constitute a court of arbitration in order to solve water disputes between Pakistan and India, reported Radio Pakistan.
A delegation of World Bank officials, led by Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva, called on the prime minister in Islamabad to discuss energy and water projects in Pakistan.
The prime minister expressed hope that the World Bank would take the lead in dispute resolution through the arbitration court. He also informed the delegation about various ongoing water projects, including small and medium dams in Balochistan.
The World Bank chief lauded Pakistan's progress in energy, infrastructure and overall economic stability. "The World Bank will support all measures that will sustain the rate of economic growth," she said.
Pakistan has asked the World Bank, which brokered the Indus Water Treaty in 1960, not to halt the process of formation of an arbitration court as the move will “seriously prejudice” the country's rights and interests under the water treaty.
Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif had said Pakistan did an extensive exercise on India's latest move to build the Ratle dam on River Chenab after the Baglihar and Kishanganga project.
The treaty, signed in 1960, gives India control over the three eastern rivers of the Indus basin - the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej - while Pakistan has the three western rivers - the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum.