Monday, June 27 2005 10:36 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Indo-Pak Secretary-level talks on the Wullar Barrage/Tulbul Navigation Project in Jammu and Kashmir will commence tomorrow (Jun 28, 2005) to sort out the two-decade old dispute.

The Indian side will be headed by Water Resources Secretary J Harinarayan while Pakistan's Secretary for Water and Power Ashfaq Mehmood will lead the delegation of his country at the two-day talks.

The Pakistani delegation is arriving today (Jun 27, 2005).

The talks, which was earlier scheduled for June 24 and 25 was postponed for June 28 and 29 due to some logistic reasons, sources had said.

The Water Secretary-level talks, to be held in New Delhi, will be the 10th round of such parleys since 1988 after the dispute arose over the project situated in Jammu and Kashmir, they said.

The Wullar Barrage/Tulbul Navigation project is one of the eight issues of Composite Dialogue Process underway between the two countries.

The last round of talks was held in Islamabad in July last year (2004), nearly six years after the previous round.

Work to construct barrage in Wullar Lake in Baramulla district of Kashmir began in 1984 but it was halted three years later after Pakistan raised objections dubbing it as a violation of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty.

Pakistan claims that the barrage will obstruct water flow in the lake once the Barrage is constructed.

India dismisses the Pakistani objection, arguing that the project was not aimed at storing water but to maintain better water level during the lean season between October and February.