Neutral expert to hear Pak-India water dispute today in The Hague

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Indian batter KL Rahul has picked Pakistan superstar Babar Azam for his top five batters in the world, ahead of inform Australia’s Travis Head. The former Pakistan captain has been struggling for form recently specially in Test cricket. He hasn’t scored a century in any format since the marathon inning against Nepal during the Asia Cup last year. India’s opening batter Rahul was tasked to pick top five batters and bowlers based on his preferences. For top five batters, Rahul was given options to pick players and arrange them in top five order. He opted his teammates Virat Kohi, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav as first, second and third. For the fourth spot, he surprisingly opted Babar ahead of Travis Head, who ended up in the fifth spot. For bowler, he chose James Anderson as his number one, followed by Dale Steyn, Jasprit Bumrah, Rashid Khan and Naseem Shah.

THE HAGUE: Pakistan and India will face off today at the neutral expert forum over the controversial designs of 330-MW Kishenganga and 850-MW Ratle hydropower projects in The Hague.

The two-day proceedings, September 10 to 11, will address the diplomatic tensions surrounding the projects, particularly the impact of the Kishanganga Hydroelectricity Project on downstream water availability in Pakistan.

The Kishanganga Hydroelectric Power Project has also been a point of contention between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan’s delegation is headed by Federal Secretary of the Ministry of Water Resources Syed Ali Murtaza. It comprises Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters Syed Muhammad Mehr Ali Shah, top officials of Attorney General Office and Law Division, National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) along with the international team of lawyers hired by the government of Pakistan.

Both the international forums — the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) and the neutral expert are listening to the Kishenganga and Ratle hydropower projects that India is building on Pakistan’s rivers — Jhelum and Chenab, but India wants neutral expert to decide the case.