Kishenganga verdict absolute victory for India: Sr advocate

The Kishenganga verdict is an "absolute" victory for India, senior advocate R K P Shankardass, who presented India's case in an international court against Pakistan on the dispute, said today.
Responding to questions on the International Court of Arbitration's final award, Shankardass said, "I believe it is an absolute, 100 per cent victory for India."
He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme where Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat felicitated those involved in the arbitration case.
The Hague-based court has rejected Pakistan's objections by upholding New Delhi's right to divert water from the Kishenganga river for power generation in Jammu and Kashmir.

It also said there were "no further restrictions" on the operation of the 330 MW hydro project for India.
But, at the same time, the court also decided that India shall release a minimum flow of nine cumecs (cubic meters per second) into the Kishenganga/Neelum river below the Kishenganga hydro-electric project (KHEP) at "all times."

While India had agreed to release over four cumecs of water, the court decided that a minimum flow criterion of 9 cumecs was consistent with Pakistan's analysis of environmental flows, given the need to balance power generation with environmental and other downstream uses.
Some within the government see as a setback for India the court's final verdict on release of nine cumecs of water and disallowing New Delhi to employ "drawdown flushing" at the reservoir of the Kishenganga project, which would entail depletion of the reservoir below dead storage level.

Besides other international counsel, Shankardass, jurist Fali S Nariman and advocate S C Sharma represented India in the court.