Pak willing, India ready to talk Baglihar

New Delhi is willing to assure Islamabad that it will do nothing to aggravate Pakistan’s security concerns over the Baglihar hydro-elec...

New Delhi is willing to assure Islamabad that it will do nothing to aggravate Pakistan’s security concerns over the Baglihar hydro-electric project if the latter decides to bring back the issue to the bilateral table.

Government sources indicated that India will announce unilateral confidence- building measures, including those related to Jammu and Kashmir, to make the peace process irreversible. All issues could be discussed during President Pervez Musharraf’s visit to New Delhi on April 17.

According to them, if Pakistan withdraws its reference to the World Bank on the Baglihar issue and decides to once again bilaterally negotiate the dispute, then PM Manmohan Singh will give a categorical assurance that New Delhi will not take any steps beyond the parameters of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.

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After the last round of talks broke down this year, Pakistan had sought the World Bank’s intervention for sorting out the issue. Islamabad fears that India is building a dam at Baglihar on the Chenab which can choke or flood Pakistan in the event of hostilities.

While the PM is willing to discuss any issue with President Musharraf, including Kashmir, official sources said there is no question of redrawing boundaries. The future, they said, lies in strengthening people-to-people contact between the two countries with measures such as the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus.

However, New Delhi is not willing to allow the Hurriyat to travel to Pakistan on the bus, ignoring the claims of the elected leaders in Jammu and Kashmir.

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