the World Bank (wb) has chosen Raymond Lafitte, professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland, to mediate in the India-Pakistan dispute over Baglihar Hydroelectric Project, being constructed on the Chenab river in India. Lafitte is also the president of the International Hydropower Association, a non-governmental grouping of organisations and professionals from around the world working in the hydropower sector. Earlier this year, Pakistan had approached wb to appoint a "neutral expert' to settle the issue, as per annexure f of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty (iwt). The move followed the failure of secretary-level talks on the matter (see Down To Earth, [2]