Home Asia World Bank Rejects Pakistan’s Objection on Kishanganga Project

World Bank Rejects Pakistan’s Objection on Kishanganga Project

Kishanganga Project

Kishanganga Project


In yet another blow to Pakistan, World Bank has asked the neighboring country to stand down on Kishanganga project. It has said in an order that Pakistan should not go to the International Court of Arbitration on Kishanganga dam and that they must accept India’s offer to appoint a neutral expert.

In a fresh communication to the Pakistan government, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim asked it to stand down from its stand on the matter, Pakistan daily The Dawn reported.

The office of the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) had on last Thursday received a letter in which the World Bank said that it is “ready to appoint a neutral expert if Islamabad agrees to give up its demand for establishing Court of Arbitration to hear the case”.

While Islamabad has been raising objection that the dam in Jammu and Kashmir, built by India, violates the Indus Waters Treaty between the neighboring countries, New Delhi has described the issue as differences between both nations over the design of the dam. New Delhi has been arguing that it holds the right to set up a dam and hydropower plants on the tributaries of the Jhelum River and insisted that the matter can be easily resolved by appointing some neutral experts. Pakistan, however, is of the view that construction of the dam may affect the water level in its territory.

Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the 330 MW Kishanganga hydropower project on the Kishanganga River, a tributary of the Jhelum.