The Government of Pakistan has been reported to be contemplating approaching the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) regarding the Kishanganga hydro-power project that is being constructed by India in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan believes that the construction is a violation of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty that governs the water sharing between the two countries.

The Indus Water Treaty was signed by India and Pakistan in 1960, after the partition of British India, when a conflict arose over the waters of the Indus basin. The source of the basin was located in India and Pakistan feared that India would use its geographical advantage to stop the flow of water into Pakistan, thereby severely affecting their power and water needs. Therefore, the two countries came to an understanding brokered by the World Bank, in which Pakistan would have exclusive control of the Western three rivers of Indus, Chenab and Jhelum and India would have exclusive control of the Eastern three rivers of Ravi, Beas and Sutlej.

The Indian Government decided to construct the 330 MW Kishanganga power project on the banks of the Kishanganga River also known as the Neelum River, in Jammu and Kashmir. In regard to the construction of this project, the government proposed constructing a 27 kilometer tunnel which would divert the water of the river to the Wallur Lake, which would in turn severely restrict the inflow of water into the Jhelum River over whose waters, Pakistan has exclusive rights. It would also decrease the power generating capabilities of the 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum power project that Pakistan has set up with the help of China. The Kishanganga project was recently awarded to the Hindustan Construction Company with a timeline of seven years.

Pakistan has been protesting the construction of the particular project for the last decade and this has been one of the many bones of contention between the two countries. To approach the ICA, Pakistan has reportedly hired the services of international legal expert, Kaiyan Kaikobad, a professor of law at the Brunel University in UK. Kaikobad has obtained his LL.M and PhD from the London School of Economics and was formerly a legal advisor to the Government of Bahrain. He is considered to be a specialist in title to territory, both land and maritime law. He is also a member of the Pakistan High Court Bar and the Hague Institute of Internationalisation of Law. Pakistan daily Dawn reports that Pakistan Government has allocated $10 million (Rs. 46 crore) for legal expenses.

Dawn reports that Cambridge University Professor James Crawford who had argued the Baglihar project, was supposed to be hired by Pakistan. However, Prime Minister’s advisor on water resources, Kamal Majidullah successfully opposed the appointment of Crawford, stating that the result of Baglihar case did not result in Pakistan’s favor. In the Baglihar project, India and Pakistan were at loggerheads over the issue of a dam specifically being built on the Chenab river in the Indian controlled part of Kashmir.

While the Pakistan Government is gearing up for a tough legal battle on the international front, there is yet to be a reaction from the Indian side. It remains to be seen which legal expert India will appoint to defend its stand if the issue does indeed reach the ICA.