New Delhi: A day after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif talked about India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty at a global forum, New Delhi on Saturday said Islamabad should stop blaming India for the treaty’s breach.
While addressing a session of a UN conference on glaciers in Tajikistan, Union Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh said that Pakistan itself was violating the treaty through terrorism.
“We are appalled at the attempt by Pakistan to misuse the forum and to bring in unwarranted references to issues which do not fall within the purview of the forum. We strongly condemned such an attempt,” he said. The suspension of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty was among a series of punitive measures India took against Pakistan after the April 22 Pahalgam attack. New Delhi has consistently accused Islamabad of supporting and facilitating cross-border terrorism as part of a proxy war against India.
On Friday, at the International Conference on Glaciers’ Preservation, Shehbaz Sharif called the decision to suspend the treaty a “weaponisation of water.” Pakistani media reported him saying “India’s unilateral and illegal decision to hold in abeyance the Indus Waters Treaty, which governs the sharing of the Indus Basin’s water, is deeply regrettable.”
“Millions of lives must not be held hostage to narrow political gains, and Pakistan will not allow this. We will never allow the red line to be crossed,” he had said.
The Union Minister, however, said it was an “undeniable fact” that there had been fundamental changes in circumstances since the Indus Waters Treaty was signed. He said it required a reassessment of the treaty’s obligations.
“However, the unrelenting cross-border terrorism from Pakistan interferes with an ability to exploit the treaty as per its provisions. Pakistan, which itself is in violation of the treaty, should desist from putting the blame for the breach of the treaty on India,” he said.
The minister said that the treaty’s preamble states it was concluded in the spirit of goodwill and friendship. Thus, honouring the treaty in good faith is essential, he added.
