India and Pakistan are to hold the first meeting in three years on Tuesday of a commission on water rights from the River Indus in a further sign of rapprochement in relations frozen since 2019 during disputes over Kashmir.
The Permanent Indus Commission, set up in 1960, will meet for two days in New Delhi according to two Indian officials involved with water issues and Pakistan’s foreign ministry.
Pakistan will raise objections to the technical designs of India’s planned Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai hydroelectric plants, Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said.
The Indus River, one of the world’s largest, and it’s tributaries feed 80 percent of Pakistan’s irrigated agriculture.
Bloomberg news agency and Foreign Policy have reported that the United Arab Emirates, with whom both India and Pakistan have close ties, may have played a role in secret efforts to achieve a detente.
There was no immediate comment from India, Pakistan or the UAE to the Bloomberg report which was out on Monday.
