Minister moots special cell to oversee international litigation

Seeks detailed briefing on Kishanganga, Ratle hydropower projects dispute

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Law and Justice Syed Ali Zafar on Thursday expressed serious concern over “poor state of affairs in dealing with international disputes” at the world’s legal forums.

The minister chaired a meeting to discuss matters pertaining to international disputes involving the Government of Pakistan. He was briefed on the issues by officials from the Office of the Attorney General and Law Division.

Later, the minister told The Express Tribune that he was shocked to see the poor state of affairs in dealing with those matters.

“I believe there is a need to establish a special cell to oversee international litigation on a permanent basis,” he added.

The minister vowed to expose the state of affair to the general public that how international disputes have been dealt during the previous regime, adding “there is a need to take these things at the highest level”.



Zafar added that he will make public everything so that people could know the colossal loss done to the country. “Millions of dollars were paid to international firms but they had failed to get judgments in favour of the country.”

During the meeting, officials briefed the minister about treaty-based and commercial disputes -- including Karkey, Reko Diq, etc.

A detailed briefing was also made about the issues relating to the Indus Water Treaty 1960. The award of Rs80 billion has already been rendered against Pakistan in the Karkey case.

The minister said he would personally look into the matter and have direct input from law firms engaged by the Office of the Attorney General.

Zafar took serious note about the progress about in the disputes relating to Kishanganga and Ratle hydropower plants.

The federal minister showed concern over delay in the process of `empanelment of the Court of Arbitration` under the Indus Waters Treaty by the World Bank.

He was of the view that right now water “is the most important problem of our country and India’s violation of the Indus Waters Treaty must be dealt with on an urgent basis without any compromise”.



A meeting of the entire team involved in the dispute settlement has been called by the minister immediately after Eid.

After lingering the issue for two years, the World Bank has recently asked Pakistan to withdraw its plea for setting up a ‘Court of Arbitration’ and accept India’s proposal to appoint a neutral expert on the issue of Kishanganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects.

Pakistan is upset over the bank’s ‘discriminatory attitude’ and its continuous support to India in the last two year.

The next government will have to deal with the fallouts of major legal battles in the world legal forums, paying billions of dollars in damages in several controversial matters, especially in the Karkey and Reko Diq cases.

Officials said both cases – the Karkey Rental Power Plant and Riko Diq -- were likely to conclude sometimes next year.

It is learnt that the hearing was resumed last month to determine the quantum of claims in the Riko Diq case.

A senior official; however, expressed satisfaction over the hearing.

According to the officials, the country would have to pay astronomical sums because of the judgments of the Supreme Court led by former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

“Currently, Pakistan is facing 36 cases of different nature at international courts. Even some independent power producers (IPPs) have also filed cases with international arbitrators seeking clearance of their pending dues, which amount to more than a trillion rupees,” they said.

“Where will this money come from? Our economy is already in a bad shape,” a senior official wondered.

Legal experts said the PML-N government was successful in passing the huge financial burden on to the next government.