New Delhi: In language unbecoming of a military officer of his stature, the director general of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry threatened to choke India’s breath should she block the flow of water into Pakistan.
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief and proscribed terrorist Hafiz Saeed had said exactly the same words a few days ago. Saeed, mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, is known for his vitriolic speeches against India and the US.
Chaudhry reportedly made the comments during a speech at a university in Pakistan. Referring to India’s recent move to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty following a deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 persons, he said, “If you block our water, we will choke your breath.”
Incidentally, Chaudhry’s father Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood is known to have been a close associate of Osama Bin Laden.
India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty on April 23, a day after the Pahalgam terror attack. The treaty, signed in 1960 and brokered by the World Bank, governs the sharing of the Indus River and its tributaries between the two countries. It also requires both sides to share regular information on water use.
India has said that it kept the treaty in abeyance as it needs to be re-structured as per present day requirements. While the suspension of the Treaty has had no immediate impact on the flow of water into Pakistan, India has indicated that it will create necessary infrastructure to harness the rivers that flow across her western border.
India took a tough stance after it came to be known that the Pahalgam terror strike was masterminded in Pakistan. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it clear that ‘Blood and Water cannot flow together, just as Talks and Terror cannot go together.’
On May 7, India launched Operation Sindoor that involved high-precision strikes on nine terror facilities in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.