Lahore, Dec. 5: Pakistan has demanded compensation from India for the latter allegedly stopping the flow of water of the Chenab River.

Pakistan’s Water and Power Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf told journalists after the 32nd Annual Convention of Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers of Pakistan, that New Delhi must compensate Islamabad for the misuse of water flows.

The Daily Times and The News quoted Pervaiz as saying that Pakistan had registered its protest with India at every level, including the offices of the prime minister and the president, and had made it clear to New Delhi that it wanted water in compensation, adding, “We are waiting for India’s reply.”

Pakistan accuses India of violating a 1960 treaty by reducing the flow of water down the river, which flows from the Indian side of the Kashmir region into Pakistan.

India is building a dam on its part of the Chenab and Pakistan fears a shortage of water for irrigation as a result.

"We should see a mechanism is available and we should avail that mechanism to address this issue," Pakistan''s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters last month.

"I am reassured that the Indian leadership is conscious of respecting the Indus Water Treaty in letter and spirit," he was quoted by a foreign news agency as saying then.

The treaty divides up control between India and Pakistan of several rivers draining into the Indus river basin.

A World Bank team of experts conducted an inquiry into the dispute in 2005 but did not make its findings public. (ANI)