The Pakistani team, which arrived in the Indian capital New Delhi Monday, is headed by Water and Power Secretary Ashfaq Mehmood and includes Water Commissioner Jamaat Ali Shah, engineers and experts, an Indian official said.

The Indian side is being led by V.K. Duggal, secretary in the water resources ministry and includes Water Commissioner D.K. Mehta, he said.

India's minister for water resources, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, after a meeting with the Pakistani team late Monday, said he hoped for a "positive and good" outcome for the talks.

"Talks are going on at the secretary level. We hope that the outcome will be both positive and good which in turn will help in improving the overall bilateral relations," the Press Trust of India news agency quoted Dasmunshi as saying.

The two delegations were aiming to narrow recent differences over the sharing of waters under the 1960 Indus Basin Treaty, which divides between Pakistan and India six rivers which run through or start in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The provisions of the treaty give India exclusive rights over the waters of the Sutlej, Ravi and Beas rivers, while Pakistan has rights over the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum rivers.

According to Pakistan, India is violating the provisions of the treaty with its construction of the Bagliar dam on the Jhelum river and the proposed Kirshna Ganga dam on the Chenab in the Indian-controlled side of Kashmir.

Islamabad says construction of a 330-megawatt hydroelectric project on the Jhelum will affect water flows to Pakistan, which New Delhi is not permitted to do, though the treaty permits India to generate electricity.

New Delhi says the technical design of the project, not involving storage, is well within the provisions of the Indus Water Treaty and national and international practices.

India agreed to upgrade the talks to senior official-level after Pakistan sought to refer the issue to the World Bank for third party arbitration after several rounds of talks at commissioner level failed.

India has steadfastly refused any international inspections of the treaty's implementation or of its dam projects.

India and Pakistan, who have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, came to the brink of another conflict two years ago, but tensions have eased since former Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee offered a "hand of friendship" to Pakistan last April.

The water talks are part of a slew of meetings in the past week between officials of the two countries on subjects such as drug trafficking and reducing the risk of nuclear confrontation in the South Asia region.

They also come ahead of a major meeting June 27-28 between the foreign secretaries of the two countries with the dispute over Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both, and peace and security topping the agenda.

TERRA.WIRE