Down the drain: PML-N says govt wasn’t serious about Kishanganga court case

PML-N's Naseer Ahmed Bhutta says the government never took people into confidence over the issue.

ISLAMABAD:

The Hague court ruling allowing India to draw Kishanganga waters opened the government up for criticism in the house of elected representatives on Friday.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MNA Naseer Ahmed Bhutta voiced his protest in the National Assembly against what he said was the government’s “non-seriousness” over the Kishanganga dam case currently in the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.

The case was taken to court by Pakistan, which held that India’s diversion of Kishanganga waters was a violation of the Indus Water Treaty of 1965. Three days ago the Hague court ruled that India could divert water under strict conditions, only allowing a minimum flow for power generation. The court’s decision requires Pakistan and India to supply data on flows by June 2013, with the final award in the case to be given in December 2013.

Bhutta said that the government had displayed a total lack of seriousness in pursuing the Kishanganga case which, he claims, is a matter of life and death for Pakistan. “The government never took people into confidence over the issue. But the matter is too important to be ignored [despite] the government’s silence,” said Bhutta.

As no government representative concerned was present in the house, the chairperson said the house was expecting the government to provide a briefing on Monday.



Sindh’s developments were also brought up by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) whose members walked out of the short session over the ruling party’s decision to bring back a local of governance system it had earlier rejected.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2013.