Indus water talks held on ‘cordial’ terms, says MEA
The HinduIndian and Pakistani negotiators ended another round of talks as a part of the Indus Water Treaty on “cordial” terms, said the Ministry of External Affairs, describing the 118th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission that took place in Delhi on May 30-31. The Commission appreciated the commitment of the two sides to interact frequently and resolve issues through bilateral discussions under the Indus Water Treaty,” the MEA said after the meetings between six-member delegations on either side led by the new Indian Commissioner for Indus Waters A.K. The statements on Tuesday are also significant as the Indus Water talks, mandated by the water sharing treaty of 1960 that was facilitated by the World Bank, are amongst the rare dialogues that continue to held between India and Pakistan, as their relations have hit new lows in the last few years. The Indus talks, which followed just two months since the last round of the Permanent Indus Commission talks in Islamabad, also came a few weeks after another Pakistan delegation crossed over Wagah for multilateral talks on terrorism as part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Regional Anti Terror Structure, leading to some speculation that ties between New Delhi and Islamabad may ease on other issues as well, given a change in government in Pakistan in April, as well as security-level back-channel talks that have been ongoing for some years, and are believed to have led to the military ceasefire agreement at the Line of Control last February.