US to engage India, Pakistan to sort out water disputes

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Mar 23 (PTI) The US has said it would work
with India and Pakistan to help the two countries overcome
their differences on water issues which are a "potential for
conflict".
"We want to help countries avoid conflict over water. The
potential for conflict over it exists not only in Pakistan and
in India, but in other places as well," said Maria Otero, the
US Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs.
He said the US would take up the issue of water-sharing
in its dialogue with the two South Asian neighbours so as to
prevent any tension in the region.
The subject is going to be one of the six pillars of the
high level US-Pak strategic dialogue that is scheduled to be
held tomorrow in Washington.
"The issue is the recognition of water as a potential
source of conflict in our elevated effort to address it with
greater priority than we have in the past," she said in her
interaction with the State Department Press Corps on the
occasion of World Water Day.
"Whether it (the US) will become the mediator in any
particular conflict is not something that we're prepared to
say right now," she said.
Otero added: "I think we need to work on this and find
ways to make sure that, especially in the Pakistan-Indian
case, we can help move that situation forward to an improved
situation".
India and Pakistan are engaged in a tussle over sharing
of waters of common rivers with Islamabad accusing New Delhi
of choking its water supplies by building dams on Indus river.
PTI