New Delhi: Has Pakistan started pleading with India to reconsider its stance on the Indus Waters Treaty?
According to India Today, Pakistan’s Ministry of Water Resources has written to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), India, stating that the decision to keep the Treaty in abeyance would create a severe crisis in Pakistan.
The Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, dates back to 1960. Under the agreement, India will have full control over the flow of water in the eastern rivers – Beas, Sutlej and Ravi, while the western rivers – Indus, Jhelum and Chenab, will flow into Pakistan. This water is vital for agriculture in Pakistan.
After the gruesome terror strike at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22 that left 26 people, mainly tourists from across the country, dead, the first thing that India did was to suspend the Treaty. While this will not have any major effect immediately, India has already started working on models to harness the flow of waters of the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab into Pakistan. This holds the potential of turning parts of the fertile Punjab province of Pakistan into a desert.
The Government of India has announced short-term, mid-term and long-term plans to stop the Indus waters from reaching Pakistan. Jal Shakti minister C R Patil has said that arrangements are being made to prevent the flow of a single drop to Pakistan.
“The Indus Waters Treaty was concluded in the spirit of goodwill and friendship as specified in the preamble of the treaty. However, Pakistan has held these principles in abeyance by its promotion of cross-border terrorism for decades,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a briefing on Tuesday.
The decision to suspend the Treaty for the first time ever was taken at a Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting held after the Pahalgam strike.
In his address to the nation after Op Sindoor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it clear that ‘water and blood’ can’t flow together.
“Terror and Talks can’t happen at the same time. Terror and Trade can’t happen simultaneously. Water and Blood cannot flow together. The only possible dialogue between India and Pakistan will be on terrorism and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” Modi said, dismissing any possibility of talks on resumption of the Indus Waters Treaty.
