Wednesday, January 19 2005 22:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: The World Bank said it is not a "guarantor" of the Indus Water Treaty under which Pakistan filed a petition seeking its arbitration to end the standoff with India on Baglihar hydropower project but has a role to play in appointment of Neutral Expert and Court of Arbitration to resolve the differences between the two countries.

"The World Bank is a signatory to the Treaty for certain specified purposes. It is not a guarantor of the Treaty. Many of the purposes for which the World Bank signed the Treaty have been completed", the Bank said in a write-up posted on its website.

The Bank said it has three "remaining responsibilities relating to settlement of differences and disputes".

Under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty brokered by the Bank to share the waters of six rivers by India and Pakistan, "questions" relating to differences were first examined by the Permanent Indus Commission, "differences" by neutral expert and disputes by a Court of Arbitration.

It said the "remaining responsibilities" of the World Bank under the Treaty were a "role" for the World Bank in the appointment of a Neutral Expert, management by the World Bank of a trust fund to meet the expenses of a Neutral Expert and establishment of Court of Arbitration.