Pakistan has decided to challenge in the international court of arbitration a decision of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to grant carbon credits to India on a controversial hydropower project without mandatory clearance of its trans-boundary environmental impact assessment.
Simultaneously, the water and power ministry has sought the opinion from the establishment division if Pakistan’s former commissioner for Indus Waters (PCIW) could be proceeded against after his retirement for not vigorously pursuing cases to stop India from construction of the controversial project and getting carbon credits from the UN forum, a senior official told Dawn on Sunday.
Earlier, the law ministry had informed the establishment division and the water and power ministry that a former retired government official could only be proceeded against if his actions were found to be of criminal nature. The water and power ministry has now asked the establishment division to determine the nature of the case so that proceedings could be initiated if these were of criminal nature.
The government has stopped the payment of retirement benefits to Syed Jamaat Ali Shah, the former PCIW, pending an inquiry. An official said the pension and retirement benefits were now being released to the former official who had served as the PCIW for 18 years.
Officials said an enquiry conducted by Mohammad Imtiaz Tajwar, secretary of Wapda, as inquiry officer appointed by the ministry of water and power, confirmed a Dawn report of July 2010 that India had secured carbon credits for the controversial 45-MW Nimoo-Bazgo hydropower project from the UN agency without mandatory clearance from Pakistan. It was, however, strange how India could secure carbon credits when Pakistan had not seen, let alone clear, the cross-boundary environmental impact assessment report.
Therefore, Pakistan has now decided to challenge the UNFCC’s decision in the international court of arbitration because legal requirements were allegedly not fulfilled by the UN agency. These officials said either the Indian government misled the UN agency through fake and fictitious documents that might have shown Pakistan’s consent to the project because there was no such record available in Pakistan.
Simultaneously, the water and power ministry has sought the opinion from the establishment division if Pakistan’s former commissioner for Indus Waters (PCIW) could be proceeded against after his retirement for not vigorously pursuing cases to stop India from construction of the controversial project and getting carbon credits from the UN forum, a senior official told Dawn on Sunday.
Earlier, the law ministry had informed the establishment division and the water and power ministry that a former retired government official could only be proceeded against if his actions were found to be of criminal nature. The water and power ministry has now asked the establishment division to determine the nature of the case so that proceedings could be initiated if these were of criminal nature.
The government has stopped the payment of retirement benefits to Syed Jamaat Ali Shah, the former PCIW, pending an inquiry. An official said the pension and retirement benefits were now being released to the former official who had served as the PCIW for 18 years.
Officials said an enquiry conducted by Mohammad Imtiaz Tajwar, secretary of Wapda, as inquiry officer appointed by the ministry of water and power, confirmed a Dawn report of July 2010 that India had secured carbon credits for the controversial 45-MW Nimoo-Bazgo hydropower project from the UN agency without mandatory clearance from Pakistan. It was, however, strange how India could secure carbon credits when Pakistan had not seen, let alone clear, the cross-boundary environmental impact assessment report.
Therefore, Pakistan has now decided to challenge the UNFCC’s decision in the international court of arbitration because legal requirements were allegedly not fulfilled by the UN agency. These officials said either the Indian government misled the UN agency through fake and fictitious documents that might have shown Pakistan’s consent to the project because there was no such record available in Pakistan.
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