Islamabad/Delhi: Not all politicians in Pakistan seem to exhibit the kind of ‘bravado’ displayed by the country’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif regarding India’s decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.
On Friday, Pakistani senator Syed Ali Zafar stated in no unclear terms that suspension of the treaty by India is akin to a ‘water bomb’ that needs to be defused at all costs if the lives of citizens are to be saved.
“We would die of hunger if we don’t resolve the water crisis now. The Indus Basin is our lifeline as three-fourths of our water comes from outside the country, nine out of 10 people depend on the Indus water basin for their living. As much as 90 per cent of our crops rely on this water and all our power projects and dams are built on it. This is like a water bomb hanging over us and we must defuse it,” Zafar said in his speech during a Senate Session on Friday.
India announced suspension of the Treaty after the April 22 terror attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir that claimed the lives of 26 persons, mostly tourists from across the country. The Treaty, signed in 1960, governs the sharing of the waters of six rivers – Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej – between India and Pakistan.
Islamabad seems to have got all muddled on how to tackle a situation such as this. Instead of addressing India’s legitimate concerns, the country’s politicians, including deputy prime minister and foreign minister Ishaq Dhar, have been issuing threats and making baseless statements over the last several weeks. Pakistan’s National Security Committee (NSC) has not been left far behind.
India has made it clear that the treaty will remain in abeyance until Islamabad “credibly and irrevocably” ends its support for cross-border terrorism. The move was endorsed by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has maintained that “water and blood cannot flow together” and “terror and talks cannot happen at the same time”.
“I would also like to underline that any bilateral discussion on Jammu and Kashmir will only be on the vacation of illegally-occupied Indian territory by Pakistan. On the question of the Indus Waters Treaty, I am again repeating myself, it will remain in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism. As our Prime Minister has said, water and blood cannot flow together, trade and terror also cannot go together,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated during a weekly media briefing in New Delhi on Thursday.
Prime Minister Modi has made it very clear that there would be no talks or trade with Islamabad unless it relinquishes its illegal occupation of Kashmir.
“If there is to be any talk, it will be on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). If Pakistan continues to export terrorists, it will be left begging for every penny. It will not get a single drop of Indian water,” he said while addressing a massive public rally in Rajasthan’s Bikaner on Thursday.
PM Modi also made it clear that “playing with the blood of Indians will cost Pakistan dear”.
