The India- Pakistan Track-II Water Cooperation Dialogue, organized by the South Asia Center of the Atlantic Council, was held in Dubai from March 30-31, 2014. The meeting was co-chaired by Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, the former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Govt. of Pakistan, and Ambassador Salman Haidar, Former Foreign Secretary, Govt. of India, standing in for Mr. Yashwant Sinha, former Foreign Minister of India. This project is generously supported by the Ploughshares Fund and the Skoll Global Threats Fund.

The discussions of the group were based on the results of the plenary meetings held in Lahore (September 27-28, 2012) and Bangkok (August 24-26, 2013) and the working groups in Dubai (November 4-11, 2013). The group decided:

  1. To revisit and follow up on all recommendations from the plenary meeting in Bangkok, and especially the study on watershed management, a review of environmental issues including glaciers, and the importance of environmentally, ecologically necessary flows in Eastern Rivers.
  2. To remind authorities in both India and Pakistan about Annexure G in the Indus Water Treaty and recommend that they appoint a standing board of umpires so that disputes are resolved in a swift and timely manner.
  3. The working group on assessing the impact of climate change and glaciers should develop a joint project that will include multidisciplinary experts to assess the impact of climate change on glaciers.
  4. To request data experts on both sides to produce a joint issue brief on data management/data sharing by the end of May 2014.
  5. To investigate the possibilities of using satellite imagery analysis as a subset of the working group on data sharing and management.
  6. On a broad support for the creation of a web-based databank that will be administered by the Atlantic Council. This databank will serve as a clearinghouse and a central repository for all data links and resources that will be useful for analysts and researchers with a special emphasis on the region.
  7. That the three current working groups on data, the impact on climate change and glaciers, and the exchange of researchers and farmers associations will continue for the time being. Other groups may be added in due course.

Name

Affiliation

Nationality

Ambassador Salman Haidar

Former Foreign Secretary, Govt. of India, and Acting Dialogue  Co-Chair

India

Arun K. Bajaj

Former Chairman, Central Water Commission

India

Mohan Guruswamy

Nonresident Senior Fellow, South Asia Center, Atlantic Council

India

Sushobha Barve

Executive Director, Center for Dialogue and Reconciliation, New Delhi, India

India

Sreekesh Sreedharan Nair

Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University

India

Suresh Prabhu

Former Union Minister for Power, Govt. of India

India

Ambassador Latha Reddy

Former Deputy National Security Advisor, Govt. of India

India

Shakil Romshoo

Head of the Geology Department, University of Kashmir

India

Hina Rabbani Khar

Former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Govt. of Pakistan and Dialogue Co-Chair

Pakistan

Rai Niaz Ahmed

Vice Chancellor, Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi

Pakistan

Omar Khattak

Professor, National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad

Pakistan

Shahid Malik

Former High Commissioner to India, Govt. of Pakistan

Pakistan

Jamait Ali Shah

Former Indus Water Treaty Commissioner, Govt. of Pakistan

Pakistan

Participants from World Bank and Skoll Global Threats

Bessma Mourad

Program Associate, Skoll Global Threats Fund

Skoll Global Threats Fund

Christina Leb

Senior Water Resource Specialist, Environment and Water Resources, South Asia

The World Bank

Participants who could  not attend

Shamsul Mulk

Former Chief Minister, Khyber Paktunkhwa Province

Pakistan

Khalid Mohtadullah

Former Managing Director, Water and Power Development, Govt. of Pakistan

Pakistan

Mushtaq Gill

Chief Executive, South Asia Conservation Agriculture Network

Pakistan

Ashfaq Mahmood

Former Federal Secretary Water and Power, Govt. of Pakistan

Pakistan

Samir Saran

Vice President, Observer Research Foundation

India